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MATERIALS  FOR  THE  STUDY 
OF  BUSINESS 


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Industrial  Society .    By  Leon  C.  Marshall.     1 ,082  pages,  $4.50,  postpaid  $4.65. 
Financial  Organization  of  Society.      By  H.  G.  Moulton.     790  pages,  $4.00, 

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each.  Vol.1.    Introduction.    61 2  pages.  Vol.11.    Law  and  the  Market. 

Law  and  Finance.     670  pages.  Vol.  III.     Law  and  Labor.     Law  and 

Risk-Bearing.     Law  and  the  Form  of  the  Business  Unit.     654  pages. 
Business  Administration.      By  Leon  C.  Marshall.    920  pages,  $4.00,  postpaid 

$4.12. 
Education  for  Business.     By  Leverett  S.  Lyon.     618  pages,  $3.50,  postpaid 

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Social  Studies  in  Secondary  Schools.     By  a  Commission  of  the  Association  of 

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Forms,  Records,  and  Reports  in  Personnel  Administration.     Edited  by  C.  N. 

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Psychological  Tests  in  Business.      By  Arthur  W.  Kornhauser  and  Forrest  A. 

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Managerial  Accounting.     Volume  I.     By  James  O.  McKinsey.     655  pages, 

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IN  PREPARATION 

Managerial  Accounting.     Volume  II.  The  Place  of  the  Market  in  Our  Economic 

The  Technique  of  Business  Communication.  Society. 

Commercial  Cost- Accounting.  An  Introduction   to    Economic    Geography. 

The  Manager's  Administration  of  Finance.  Volume  II. 

The  Manager's  Administration  of  Labor.  Social  Control. 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OP  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 

THE  CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON 

THE  MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA 

TOKYO,  OSAKA,  KYOTO,  rUKUOKA,  BBNDAI 

THE  MISSION  BOOK  COMPANY 

8HANQHAI 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


BY 

LEVERETT  S.  LYON 

PROFESSOR  OF  POLITICAL  ECONOMY  AND  DEAN  OP 

THE  SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE  AND  FINANCE 

WASHINGTON  UNIVERSITY 


f^MF^ 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


y (y<-(>^Ci(rH^  2jlf.^j^   %) 


utrCA^CTA 


Copyright  1922  By 
The  University  of  Chicago 


All  Rights  JReserved 


Published  September  1922 

Second  Edition  August  1923 

Second  Impression  March  igas 


ComiMsed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chica^  Press 

Chicayo.  Illinois.  U.S.A. 


TO 

L.  N.  L. 


^  r\  ^ 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION 

Business  education  in  America  is  unique  in  its  vigor  and  in 
its  lack  of  guidance.  It  has  exhibited  a  remarkable  growth  and 
aroused  an  unusual  interest  in  the  general  mind,  but  it  has 
received  a  minimum  of  thoughtful  attention  from  those  institu- 
tions which  are  professionally  concerned  with  education. 

Business  education  has  never  been  subjected  to  an  "over- 
view." As  a  result  no  one  type  of  business  education  institution 
has  been  able  clearly  to  outline  its  program  in  relation  to  the 
work  of  other  types.  With  this  disability,  institutions  have 
multiplied,  not  to  supplement  one  another,  but  largely  to  com- 
pete in  doing  similar  work. 

Without  a  clear  sense  of  purpose  and  relationships  the  organi- 
zation of  a  rational  curriculum  in  any  type  of  school  has  been 
difl&cult.  As  a  result  the  many  capable  persons  planning  busi- 
ness courses  and  teaching  business  subjects  have  planned  and 
taught  often  in  terms  of  tradition,  custom,  or,  at  best,  inamediate 
goals. 

But  to  any  who  will  pause  to  take  a  detached  point  of  view, 
it  will  appear  at  once  that  nothing  is  to  be  gained  when  con- 
cerned with  a  problem  of  curriculum  by  accepting  traditional 
studies  and  attempting  to  juggle  them  into  some  defensible 
arrangement.  It  will  be  obvious  that  courses  in  business  educa- 
tion should  be  built  up  in  terms  of  purposes,  and  it  will  be 
quite  as  clear  that  different  forms  of  institutions  may  well 
serve  different  ends.  To  determine  the  general  objectives  of 
business  education,  to  indicate  the  important  agencies  con- 
cerned and  to  suggest  the  place  of  each  is  the  purpose  of  this  work. 
It  is,  therefore,  not  a  discussion  of  the  curriculum  for  a  particular 
type  of  school,  but  an  approach  and  point  of  departure  for  a 
study  of  the  curriculum  of  any  type  of  business  course. 

The  book  should  thus  have  a  use  as  an  introductory  text 
in  that  increasing  number  of  institutions  which  are  training 
teachers  of  business  subjects  and  where  there  is  a  growing  realiza- 

ix 


X  PREFACE 

tion  that  no  narrow  approach  to  a  study  of  business  education 
will  prove  permanently  satisfactory.  For  such  schools  it  should 
make  possible  a  foundation  course  upon  which  more  specialized 
courses  can  be  built  with  an  understanding  of  the  business 
educational  structure  as  a  whole.  The  volume  should  also 
render  a  service  to  those  general  readers  who  have  a  serious 
interest  in  the  whole  field  of  business  education  and  to  those 
persons  who  have  already  made  a  professional  connection  with 
any  special  phase  of  it.  For  the  former  it  will  be  a  survey 
more  or  less  complete  in  itself;  for  the  latter  it  is  a  method 
of  approach  to  their  special  problems. 

The  emphasis  given  the  public  secondary  school  needs  a 
word  of  explanation.  First  of  all,  the  general  extent  of  business 
education  in  such  schools  is  so  great  as  to  warrant  a  more 
elaborate  discussion  of  the  high  school  than  that  given  to  other 
institutions.  Moreover,  the  varied  forms  in  which  the  secondary 
schools'  relation  to  commercial  education  appears  causes  a  some- 
what extended  treatment.  Related  to  these  considerations  is 
the  fact  that  normal  schools'  interest  in  commercial  education 
will  center  in  high-school  problems.  Finally,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  high  school  has  been  farther  astray  in  the  work  it  has 
attempted  than  have  most  of  the  other  institutions  participat- 
ing in  giving  business  education.  At  the  same  time,  its  proper 
role  is  so  important  and  so  certain  not  to  be  performed  save  by 
the  public  high  school  that  almost  any  extent  of  emphasis  could 
be  justified. 

The  book  has  its  origins  in  specific  problerhs  of  curriculum- 
making.  For  several  years  the  writer  was  responsible  for 
certain  phases  of  the  business  curriculum  in  a  large  high  school. 
In  the  effort  to  deal  with  the  problem  presented  there,  most  of 
the  ideas  expressed  in  this  volume  had  their  beginning.  The 
School  of  Conamerce  and  Administration  of  the  University  of 
Chicago  later  furnished  a  congenial  atmosphere  for  the  develop- 
ment of  these  ideas  and  an  opportunity  to  discuss  them  with 
mature  students  engaged  in  teaching  and  school  administration. 

Obligations,  especially  to  authors  and  publishers  for  permis- 
sion to  quote  material,  are  many.    A  careful  effort  has  been 


PREFACE  xi 

made  to  give  specific  acknowledgment  for  these  quotations 
where  they  appear,  as  well  as  for  the  kindness  of  several  indi- 
viduals who  have  prepared  statements.  From  E.  W.  Bamhart, 
chief  of  the  Commercial  Division  of  the  Federal  Board  for  Voca- 
tional Education,  there  have  come  a  number  of  valuable  sug- 
gestions. Through  his  kindness,  and  through  the  courtesy  of 
F.  G.  Nichols,  the  writer  was  given  early  access  to  the  results 
of  the  Federal  Board's  occupational  surveys.  William  Bach- 
rach,  supervisor  of  commercial  education  in  the  Chicago  high 
schools,  has  had  the  temerity  to  experiment  with  the  material 
in  the  classes  of  the  Chicago  Normal  School  while  it  was  still 
in  proof,  and  has  made  contributions  as  a  result. 

Among  my  colleagues,  L.  C.  Marshall  read  the  entire  manu- 
script and  offered  many  invaluable  suggestions,  while  Professors 
Emery  Filbey,  Frankhn  Bobbitt,  and  C.  O.  Hardy  have  given 
helpful  criticisms  on  particular  chapters.  A  special  obligation  is 
due  Miss  May  R.  Freedman  for  help  in  the  collection  and  arrange- 
ment of  material  and  the  preparation  of  the  Index.  In  no  small 
way  has  the  physical  burden  been  lightened  by  the  secretarial 
and  stenographic  aid  of  the  Misses  Sigrid  M.  Johnson,  A.  M. 
Tillotson,  Nira  Cowan,  and  D.  Mulloy. 

Leverett  S.  Lyon 
University  of  Chicago 
August  I,  1922 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 

This  volume  was  prepared  with  the  hope,  expressed  in  the 
preface  to  the  first  edition,  that  it  might  be  of  service  to  general 
readers  and  to  students  in  institutions  giving  teacher  training. 
If  the  general  reader  had  been  the  only  reader  contemplated,  the 
clear  expression  of  a  point  of  view  would  have  been  the  only 
matter  of  primary  importance.  But  to  make  the  book  valuable 
to  students,  the  evidence  was  laid  out  in  some  detail,  conflicting 
attitudes  were  expressed,  questions  interpolated,  and  material 
otherwise  introduced  for  the  constant  discussion  and  reaction 
of  class  work. 

These  introductions  into  the  skeleton  of  thought  make  it 
possible  for  the  student  to  develop  a  view  through  his  own 
thinking,  but  they  constitute  something  of  an  interference  to 
the  reader  who  wishes  to  see  quickly  approach  and  conclusions 
only.  There  has  therefore  been  added  in  this  edition  a  final 
chapter  which  is  something  of  a  sketch  of  the  book  as  a  whole. 
It  is  hoped  that  this  chapter  may  serve  the  general  reader  as  a 
certification  of  viewpoint  and  the  student  as*  a  summary  as  well. 
As  the  title  of  the  chapter  indicates,  there  is  also  the  behef  that 
this  summarized  viewpoint  may  aid  educators  in  applying  the 
ideas  of  the  book  to  practical  situations. 

The  development  of  certain  material  has  made  possible  in 
this  edition  a  new  proposal  on  page  600,  and  one  rather  signifi- 
cant point  has  been  emphasized  by  italics  on  page  577. 

Leverett  S.  Lyon 
Chicago 
June  26,  1923 


xii 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PART  I.    A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Growth  and  Position  of  Business  Education        3 
II.  An  Approach  to  Curriculum-Making       ....       18 


PART  II.    THE  OBJECTIVES  OF  EDUCATION 
FOR  BUSINESS 

III.  What  Is  Business  ? 31 

IV.  Individual  Enterprise  and  the  Specialization  of 
Business  Units 41 

V.  Specialization  within  Business  Units      ....      53 

VI.  Science  in  Business  and  Large-Scale  Production      65 

Vll.  What  Business  Says  It  Wants:  Direct  Expressions      81 

VIII.  What  Business  Says  It  Wants:   Indirect  Expres- 
sions        115 

IX.  The  Functions  of  Education  ln  a  Democracy   .     .     208 


PART  III.    MODERN  AGENCIES  OF  EDUCATION 
FOR  BUSINESS 

A.  the  outstanding  institutions,   chapters  x-xv 

B.  modern  extensions  of  the  high-school  commer. 
cl\l  course,   chapters  xvi-xx 

X.  Some  Earlier  Forms  of  Business  Education  and 
the  Development  of  Specialized  Agencies  .     .     .     253 

XI.  The  Business  College 279 

XII.  Private   Collegiate    Schools   of   Commerce  and 

Correspondence  Schools 314 

XIII.  The  Corporation  School 328 

xiii 


xiv  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XIV.  Collegiate  Schools  of  Business 363 

XV.  The  Typical  High-School  Commercial  Course     .  393 

XVI.  The  High  School  of  Commerce 430 

XVII.  The  Continuation  School  in  Business  Education  .  449 

XVIII.  Co-operative  Business  Courses 478 

XIX.  Evening-* School  Commercial  Courses      ....  502 

XX.  Postgraduate  Commercial   Courses,   Supervision 

and  Teacher  Training 527 

PART  IV.    HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL- 
CURRICULUM  REFORM 

XXI.  A  Review  of  Proposals  and  Some  Conclusions  .  51^3 

XXII.  A  Plan  of  Organized  Specialization  for  a  City 

System 607 

Index 617 


PART  I 
A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  CASE 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  GROWTH  AND  POSITION  OF  BUSINESS 
EDUCATION 

The  growth  of  education  for  business  has  been  a  matter  of 
common  observation  and  interest  for  some  years  past.  To 
such  an  extent  has  this  been  the  case  that  figures  are  hardly 
necessary  to  demonstrate  the  fact. 

But  the  growth  of  business  education,  though  vigorous 
ahnost  beyond  precedent,  has  not  been  a  wholly  regular  nor  a 
wholly  uniform  growth.  Certain  phases  of  its  development 
have  outstripped  others,  certain  aspects  which  have  at  times 
expanded  rapidly  at  other  times  have  been  retarded.  New 
types  of  institutions  aiding  business  education  have  from  time 
to  time  sprung  into  existence,  and  almost  without  exception 
have  shown  remarkable  vitality.  Figures  can  therefore  clarify 
much  that  is  vague  in  the  common  knowledge:  they  can  give 
tangibility  to  impressions  and  estabHsh  a  sense  of  relativity. 

Because  of  chronological  precedence,  if  for  no  other  reason, 
certain  statistics  concerning  the  private  commercial  school  may 
well  be  put  first  and  may  furnish  a  sort  of  basis  by  which  changes 
may  be  judged. 

TABLE  I 


Increase  in  Number  of  Students  in  Private  Commercial  Schools 
FROM  1893  TO  1918* 

Year 

Percentage 

i8g3 

1Q18 

Increase 

Students  in  private  commercial 
schools 

115,748 

289,579 

150.18 

♦U.S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Education  Report,  1893-94,  II,  2170;    Biennial  Survey  0/ 
Education,  Bulletin  No.  47,  1919,  p.  5. 


The  year  191 8  is  the  latest  for  which  figures  are  shown  in 
biennial  reports  of  the  Bureau  of  Education.     A   period  of 


4  EDUCATION  FOli  BUSINESS 

twenty-five  years  is  sufficiently  long  to  do  justice  to  the  facts 
to  be  considered.  The  figures  in  Table  I  show  the  growth  in 
number  of  students  in  private  commercial  schools  for  a  period 
of  twenty-five  years  including  and  preceding  1918.  The  figures 
show  an  increase  in  the  number  of  students  in  private  com- 
mercial schools  between  1893  and  1918  of  189,  579,  or  a  percent- 
age increase  of  150.18.  The  growth  has  not  been  entirely  uni- 
form, if  the  statistics  of  the  Bureau  of  Education  may  be 
trusted.  According  to  the  enumeration  of  the  Bureau  the 
number  of  students  in  these  schools  declined  steadily  from  1893 
to  1898.  At  the  latter  date  there  were  approximately  70,000 
enrolled.  From  1898  there  was  a  sharp  increase  until  1901, 
when  there  were  approximately  135,000  such  students.  From 
that  time  there  were  fluctuations  both  up  a  id  down  until  191 1, 
after  which  there  came  a  steady  rise  to  the  present  number. 
(The  details  of  this  growth  may  be  seen  in  Fig.  i,  p.  6.) 

GROWTH  OF  BUSINESS  EDUCATION  IN  SECONDARY 
SCHOOLS 

K  we  turn  to  education  for  business  as  represented  by  the 
secondary  schools  we  find  a  very  marked  growth  indicated  in  a 
number  of  ways. 

TABLE  II 

Increase  in  Number  of  High  Schools  Teaching 
Commercial  Work* 


t 

Year 

Percentage 

1911 

1918 

Increase 

Number  of  high  schools 

1,752 

2,953 

68.55 

*  U.S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Biennial  Survey  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  19,  1920,  p.  13. 
The  data  for  the  last  year  include  those  for  the  junior  high  schools. 


Table  II  shows  that  the  number  of  high  schools  teaching 
commercial  work  is  rapidly  increasing.  From  1911  to  1918  the 
increase  was  68.55  per  cent.  (Figures  are  not  available  prior  to 
1911.) 


GROWTH  AND  POSITION  OF  BUSINESS  EDUCATION        5 


The  past  twenty-five  years  have  been  the  period  of  great 
growth  of  high  schools  and  of  high-school  students.  Table  III 
presents  certain  pertinent  data  concerning  this  growth. 

TABLE  III 

Increase  m  Number  of  Public  High  School  Students  and  Public 
High  School  Commercial  Students  from  1893  to  1918* 


Year 

Percentage 

1893 

1918 

Increase 

High-school  students 

289,274 
15,220 

1,925,473 
278,275 

'C6';.62 

High-school  commercial  students 

1,728.35 

♦U.S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Education  Report,  1893-94,11,  217;  1907,  II,  1045;  and 
advance  sheets  from  the  Biennial  Survey  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  31, 1920,  p.  4,  and  Bulletin 
No.  19,  1920,  p.  138. 

The  number  of  students  shows  an  increase  from  something 
over  a  quarter  of  a  million  to  well  toward  two  million — a  striking 
gain.  The  percentage  of  increase  is  565.62  per  cent.  But  this 
growth  looks  meager  when  compared  to  the  growth  in  the 
number  of  commercial  students  among  these  high-school  stu- 
dents.   Here  the  percentage  increase  is  1,728.35  per  cent. 

TABLE  IV 

Increase  in  Number  of  Students  m  Commercial  and  Business 
Courses  in  Private  High  Schools  and  Academies,  in  Public 
High  Schools,  and  in  Commercial  and  Business  Schools  from 
1893  to  1918* 


Students  Enrolled 

Percentage 

1893 

1918 

Increase 

Private  high  schools        

4,466 

115,748 

15,220 

23,801 

289,579 
278,275 

432.93 
150.18 

1,728.35 

Commercial  and  business  schools 
Public  high  schools 

♦U.S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Education  Report,  1900-1901,  II,  2268;  Biennial  Survey 
of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  3,  1920,  p.  44;  Bulletin  No.  19,  1920,  p.  13;  Bulletin  No.  47, 
1919,  p.  S- 

Table  IV  makes  possible  some  comparisons  between  the 
increase  of  numbers  in  several  types  of  institutions  giving 
business  courses  of  a  somewhat  similar  kind. 


6 

300,000 
272,000 
250,000 

225,000 
200,000 

175,000 
150,000 

125,000 
100,000 

75,ooo 
50,000 
25,000 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


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Students  in  private  commercial  schools 

Students  in  commercial  courses  in  public  high  schools 

Students  in  commercial  courses  in  private  high  schools 


Compiled  from 

Reports  of  U.S.  Commissioner  of  Education 

and  Bienniel  Survey  of  Education 


igo2,  II,  2003;  1906,  II,  1095; 
7po7,  II,  1 1 17;  1910,  II,  1249. 
Bulletin  No.  47,  1919,  p.  5; 

"         No.  19,  1920,  p.  13; 

"        No.  3,  1920,  p.  5. 


Figures  for  public  and  private  high  schools  are  unavailable  for  1893 
and  1907  and  for  all  types  in  19 17. 

Fig.  I. — Number  of  students  enrolled  in  private  commercial  schools, 
and  in  commercial  courses  in  public  high  schools  and  private  high  schools 
from  1893-1918. 


GROWTH  AND  POSITION  OF  BUSINESS  EDUCATION        7 

The  outstanding  gain  has  been  in  the  public  high  school, 
although  the  more  than  400  per  cent  increase  of  the  private 
high  school  is  striking.  The  private  business  school  shows  a 
relative  lag,  in  spite  of  its  large  actual  gains. 

Figure  i  presents  the  same  data  in  some  detail  showing 
actual  and  relative  positions  of  these  three  institutions  year  by 
year  since  1893.  The  diagram  shows  clearly  the  period  of 
growth,  of  loss,  of  stagnation,  and  of  keenest  rivalry  of  these 
institutions. 

PERCENTAGE   OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  STUDENTS   IN 
COMMERCIAL  COURSES 

A  consideration  of  the  relatively  rapid  growth  of  commercial 
students  in  secondary  schools  leads  naturally  to  an  inquiry 
concerning  the  proportion  of  high-school  students  which  is  taking 
commercial  work.  There  are  presented  in  Table  V  the  general 
facts  as  they  are  indicated  by  the  data  collected  by  the  Bureau 
of  Education.  This  table  shows  that  while  in  1893  the  percent- 
age of  students  in  commercial  work  was  5.26,  the  percentage  in 
1918  was  14-45^  In  other  words,  the  percentage  has  somewhat 
less  than  trebled. 

TABLE  V 

Percentage  of  Students  in   Commercial  Courses  in   Public  High 
Schools  in  1893  and  1918* 


Year 


1893. 
1918. 


Students  in 

Commercial 

Courses 


15,220 
278,275 


All  Students 


289,274 
1,925.473 


Percentage  in 

Commercial 

Work 


5-26 
14-45 


♦U.S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Education  Report,  1893-94,  II,  217;  1907,  II,  1045;  the 
Biennial  Survey  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  31, 1920,  p.  4,  and  Bulletin  No.  19, 1920,  p.  138. 


The  situation  is  perhaps  better  shown  by  the  results  secured 
from  a  private  survey  made  with  a  questionnaire  in  191 7-18. 
This  questionnaire  covered  each  state  in  the  Union  and  was 
addressed  to  all  high  schools  having  over  two  hundred  pupils 
in  commercial  courses,  as  shown  by  the  latest  report  of  the 
Commissioner  of  Education  then  available.    In  addition,  the 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


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GROWTH  AND  POSITION  OF  BUSINESS  EDUCATION        9 

questionnaire  covered  a  considerable  number  of  high  schools 
having  a  smaller  number  of  students. 

A  summary  of  the  data  dealing  with  the  percentage  of 
pupils  in  commercial  courses  indicates  that,  of  the  136  schools 
replying  to  the  questionnaire,  123,  or  90.5  per  cent,  gave  the 
percentage  of  students  in  commercial  work.  An  examination 
of  Figure  2  will  indicate  the  distribution  reported.  Vertical  bars 
in  this  diagram  show  the  number  of  schools  reporting  various 
percentages  of  pupils  in  commercial  work.  It  will  be  suspected 
after  a  moment's  study  of  this  diagram  that  the  percentages 
stated  by  school  ofl&cials  are  not  absolutely  accurate.  Clearly, 
these  officials  sent  in  their  reports  in  convenient  numbers  that 
only  approximated  the  percentages  of  their  students  that  are 
in  commercial  work.  There  is  no  reason,  however,  why  this 
fact  should  invalidate  the  use  of  the  figures  for  forming  general 
conclusions. 

A  more  accurate  picture  of  the  situation  is  given  in  Figure  3. 
In  this  diagram  the  percentages  11-20,  21-30,  etc.,  have  been 
grouped  together,  and  we  thus  secure  a  basis  for  representation 
in  groups  of  percentages. 

Sixteen  schools,  13  per  cent  of  those  answering  this  question, 
reported  20  per  cent  of  their  students  in  commercial  courses. 
Twenty-one  schools,  17.9  per  cent  of  those  reporting,  estimated 
one-third  of  their  students  to  be  in  commercial  work,  and  fifteen 
schools,  12.3  per  cent,  indicated  that  40  per  cent  of  their  stu- 
dents were  in  commercial  courses.  No  school  reported  less 
than  10  per  cent  of  their  pupils  in  commercial  courses,  nine 
reported  50  per  cent,  and  four  reported  60  per  cent.  Three 
schools  reported  more  than  60  per  cent  of  their  students  in  this 
type  of  work.  Plainly  the  mode  is  in  the  neighborhood  of 
T)T,i  per  cent.  Figure  2  shows  that  a  larger  number  of  schools 
reported  20  per  cent  of  their  students  in  commercial  courses 
than  reported  25  per  cent,  30  per  cent,  or  any  other  per  cent 
until  33  J  is  reached.  The  question  may  fairly  be  raised  whether 
there  are  actually  fewer  schools  that  have  25  per  cent  than 
have  20  per  cent.  One  of  two  answers  must  be  given:  Either 
there  are  fewer  schools  in  the  25  per  cent  class  than  in  the 


lO 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


50 


45  - 


40 


35 


30 


25 


i;;. 

15  --  .- 


10 


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0 

0 

0 

0 

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0 

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r 

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On 

Percentage  of  pupils 


Fig.  3. — Number  of  schools  reporting  indicated  percentages  of  pupils 
in  commercial  courses,  as  reported  by  1 23  high  schools. 


GROWTH  AND  POSITION  OF  BUSINESS  EDUCATION      ii 

20  per  cent  class,  or  the  convenience  of  the  numbers  20  per  cent 
and  7,T,i  per  cent  has  resulted  in  their  use  for  approximation. 
Similar  questions  arise  in  regard  to  the  percentages  reported 
between  33^  and  40  per  cent,  40  and  50  per  cent,  and  50 
and  60  per  cent.  The  second  answer,  that  convenient  num- 
bers for  approximation  were  used,  is  probably  the  more  correct 
explanation. 

LARGE  AND   SMALL  COMMUNITIES   COMPARED 

The  percentage  of  students  in  commercial  courses  in  large 
cities  seems  in  general  to  average  somewhat  higher  than  in  the 

TABLE  VI 

Percentage  of  Students  in  Commercial  Courses  in  the  High   Schools 
OF  Certain  Large  Cities  in  191 7-18* 

City  Percentage 

Boston,  Mass 50-60 

Brooklyn,  N.Y '. 29 

Chicago,  111 30 

Cincinnati,  Ohio 26 

Cleveland,  Ohio 11 

Columbus,  Ohio 25 

Denver,  Colo 50 

Jersey  City,  NJ.' 31.7 

Milwaukee,  Wis. 45 

Minneapolis,  Minn ' 28 

Newark,  N.J 25 

New  Orleans,  La 25 

New  York,  N.Y 29 

Pittsburgh,  Pa 25 

Portland,  Me 37. 5 

San  Francisco,  Cal 27.6 

Seattle,  Wash 70 

Hartford,  Conn 45 

*  From  answers  to  a  questionnaire. 

smaller  communities.  Table  VI  shows  the  percentage  of  stu- 
dents in  commercial  courses  in  the  high  schools  of  certain  large 
cities  of  the  United  States. 


12  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  only  one  case  (that  of  Cleveland,  Ohio) 
does  the  percentage  run  below  25.  It  is  perhaps  interesting 
that  a  community  thought  to  be  as  academic  in  its  interests  as 
Boston  shows  from  50  to  60  per  cent  of  its  high-school  students 
in  commercial  work,  and  that  this  proportion  is  surpassed  only 
on  the  western  coast,  where  Seattle  has  70  per  cent  of  its 
students  in  such  courses. 

In  a  discussion  of  commercial  work  in  high  schools  the 
statement  is  often  made  that  it  is  in  the  cities  only  that  com- 
mercial work  has  taken  any  hold.  An  effort  has  been  made  to 
present  the  facts  of  the  case  in  Table  VII.  In  this  connection, 
it  may  be  well  to  quote  from  the  Bureau's  report  the  definitions 
of  these  types  of  schools  and  the  basis  of  the  classification  used  :^ 

This  classification  has  been  made  on  the  basis  of  support,  it 
being  generally  agreed  that  rural  support  will  look  toward  rural 
interests,  and  city  support  toward  city  interests.  The  following 
definition  of  a  rural  high  school  has  been  used  in  grouping  the  reports: 
A  rural  high  school  is  one  supported  by  a  state,  a  county,  a  township, 
or  a  district,  or  by  an  independent  village  which  had  a  population 
less  than  2,500  in  19 10.  Union  high  schools  are  considered  as  rural. 
A  city  high  school  is  one  supported  by  a  city  having  a  population  of 
2,500  and  over  in  19 10.  Many  of  the  rural  high  schools  are  located 
in  cities  having  a  population  of  2,500  or  over,  and  in  many  instances 
serve  as  city  high  schools  as  well,  but  are  supported  by  a  rural  taxing 
unit,  i.e.,  by  a  imit  larger  than  that  determined  by  the  corporate 
limits  of  the  city  proper.  In  case  the  city  had  a  population  of  10,000 
or  over,  such  a  dual  high  school  has  been  considered  as  a  city  high 
school,  it  being  thought  that  such  a  large  municipality  would  more 
generally  determine  the  curriculum  of  the  high  school  and  would 
contribute  very  largely  to  its  support.  These  city  high  schools  have 
been  divided  into  two  groups,  the  first  including  all  of  those  high 
schools  supported  by  cities  which  had  a  population  of  5,000  or  over, 
and  the  second  those  supported  by  cities  having  a  population  from 
2,500  to  4,999  in  1 9 10.     There  are  about  as  many  cities  in  the  first 

group  as  in  the  second,  but  about  twice  as  many  high  schools 

If  some  are  inclined  to  question  the  practice  of  considering  as  cities 

^  From  U.S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Biennial  Survey  of  Education, 
igi6-igi8,  Bulletin  No.  19,  1920,  p.  9. 


GROWTH  AND  POSITION  OF  BUSINESS  EDUCATION      13 


TABLE  VII 

Percentage  of  High-School  Students  in  Rural,  Village,  and  City 
Communities  Taking  Commercial  Work* 


States 


City 


Stu- 
dents 


Com- 
mer- 
cial 
Stu- 
dents 


Village 


Stu- 
dents 


Com- 
mer- 
cial 
Stu- 
dents 


Rural 


Stu- 
dents 


Com- 
mer- 
cial 
Stu- 
dents 


United  States 

Alabama 

Arizona 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

District  of  Columbia 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New  Hampshire .  .  . 

New  Jersey 

New  Mexico 

New  York 

North  Carolina .... 

North  Dakota 

Ohio 

Oklahoma 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode  Island 

South  Carolina .... 

South  Dakota 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Washington 

West  Virginia 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 


848,545 


212,853 


25.0 


121,887 


14,622 


673,174 


50,780 


7.5 


7,297 

2,447 

3,899 

54,666 

9,879 

16,284 

1,251 

6,926 

1,802 

8,906 

1,666 

54,536 

26,302 

13,329 

13,507 

8,750 

5,075 

6,829 

3,949 

61,896 

33,039 

22,124 

3,642 

26,494 

3,178 

6,905 

400 

4,918 

47,382 

851 

124,515 

4,434 

1,864 

60,634 

7,943 

8,124 

81,757 

7,010 

2,867 

2,360 

5,555 

26,829 

4,010 

2,487 

11,596 

17,896 

6,487 

22,484 

908 


932 

444 

665 

11,401 

1,987 

5,985 

345 

1,892 


12.8 

18.1 
17.0 
20.8 
20.1 
36.7 
27.5 
273 


355 
81 
12,742 
3,936 
2,506 
1,700 
1,724 
1,459 
2,315 
1,680 


0,172 
5,329 

226 
5,738 

607 
1,173 


3-9 
4.8 
23 -3 
14.9 
18.8 
12.5 
19.7 
28.7 
34-0 
42.5 
41-7 
18.6 
24.0 

6.2 

21.6 
19. 1 
16.9 


1,650 

11,875 

32 

40,055 

666 

222 

12,917 

2,040 

1,010 

24,381 

2,496 

174 

396 

479 

3,746 

748 

582 

2,219 

3,183 

1,116 

5,449 

208 


33-5 
25.0 

3.7 
32.1 
14.9 
II. 9 
21.3 
25.6 
12.4 
29.8 
35-5 

6.0 
16 

8 


13 

18 

23 

10 

17 

17 

24.2 

22.9 


921 

118 

1,850 

3,569 

2,575 


210 


470 
2,238 
1,816 
4,515 
6,284 
7,478 
5,636 
1,704 
1,418 

588 


5,112 
4,144 

962 
4,286 

185 
2,002 

170 

343 
3,809 

8,121 
1,543 
811 
6,894 
5,510 
1,837 
12.860 


929 
1,436 

985 
5, 660 
1,330 

791 
1,515 
2,899 
1,621 
5,620 

213 


49 
2 

25 
313 
290 


10,314 
1,204 
5,977 

25,965 
6,120 
6,068 
1,105 


237 
407 
733 

1,971 
550 

2,484 
76 


33.8 
12.2 

i;i 


8s 

lOI 

120 

844 

374 
736 
649 
4 
231 
152 


18.0 
4-5 
6.6 

18.6 
5-9 
9.8 

11-5 
0.2 

16.2 

25.8 


653 
326 

lOI 

346 

45 

432 

8 

58 

907 

45 

1,089 

206 

119 

903 

235 

174 

2,128 


12.7 
7.8 
10.8 
8.0 
24 -3 
21 .6 
4-7 
16.9 
23.8 
12.0 
13-4 
13-3 
14.6 
13  o 
4.2 
9.4 
16.5 


298 

74 

373 

158 

174 

58 

356 

173 

,128 

80 


20.7 

6.5 

11. 8 

21 .9 
3.8 

12.2 
10.6 
20.0 
37.5 


5,888 

12,595 

6,077 

45,782 

33,438 

34,561 

30,617 

9,921 

8,788 

10,481 

18,608 

17,797 

25,795 

21,818 

8,030 

25,897 

7,073 

20,111 

960 

3,110 

9,549 

2,21s 

30,181 

11,875 

8,945 

37,673 

18,172 

7.991 

32,996 

1,288 

4,974 

8,182 

11,090 

29,254 

3,834 

4,647 

13,529 

13,512 

8,236 

20,844 

1.883 


195 
149 

704 

4,401 
352 

1,073 

2,016 

44 

403 

1,790 
803 

6,211 

1,520 

1,735 
"5 
828 

1,089 

1,016 
713 
806 

2,946 
231 

1,473 
149 
578 

2.541 
604 
907 

2,007 
436 
17 
358 
552 
346 
208 

1,009 
257 

1,354 
614 

2,209 
163 


3.0 
1 .1 

11-5 
9-5 
1 .0 
31 
6.5 
0.4 
4-S 

17.0 
4-3 

34.8 
5-5 
7.9 
1.4 

2.1 

15.4 

S-i 
74.2 
25-9 
30.8 
10.4 

4." 

I , 

6. 

6. 

3 
II. 

6. 
33.8 

0.3 

4.3 

4.9 

I.I 

S.8 
21.7 

1.8 
10.5 

7.6 
10. o 

8.4 


*  Compiled  from  U.S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Biennial  Survey  of  Education,  Bulletin 
No.  19,  1920,  Tables  29,  30,  31,  57. 


14  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

municipalities  having  a  population  from  2,500  to  4,999,  the  statistics 
of  the  high  schools  located  in  such  places  may  be  combined  with 
those  of  rural  high  schools.  To  facihtate  reference  to  these  two  classes 
of  cities  in  the  following  pages  the  larger  municipahties  are  denomi- 
nated "cities"  and  the  smaller  ones, "villages." 

A  study  of  Table  VII  will  show  that  although  commercial 
work  as  indicated  by  the  percentage  of  students  in  high  schools 
in  commercial  courses  has  taken  a  stronger  hold  in  the  cities, 
the  growth  of  such  work  has  been  impressive  in  village  and 
rural  communities.  Connecticut,  Arizona,  Massachusetts, 
Nevada,  and  Rhode  Island  all  show  that  more  than  one- third 
of  the  high-school  students  in  rural  communities  are  in  com- 
mercial courses,  and  there  are  one  or  two  striking  instances, 
such  as  that  of  Nevada  (which,  however,  is  possibly  explainable 
on  grounds  of  school  organization),  where  the  commercial 
students  are  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  high-school  students 
in  rural  communities.  In  villages  also  the  percentage  of  com- 
mercial students  is  high  in  a  great  many  states,  the  highest 
percentage  being  in  Wyoming,  where  37.5  of  village  high-school 
students  are  commercial  students. 

RECENT   GROWTH  OF  COLLEGE   TRAINING   FOR   BUSINESS 

The  first  school  of  commerce  in  the  United  States  which 
could  be  properly  spoken  of  as  of  collegiate  grade  was  the 
Wharton  School  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  founded  in 
May,  1 88 1.  No  other  one  was  organized  until  1898,  when  the 
University  of  California  and  the  University  of  Chicago  inaugu- 
rated such  schools.  In  1900  the  University  of  Wisconsin, 
Dartmouth  College,  and  New  York  University  opened  schools 
of  business.  The  University  of  Michigan  followed  in  1901. 
No  other  school  of  commerce  was  founded  until  1908.  In  the 
field  of  collegiate  education  for  business,  the  really  striking 
growth  has  been  very  recent.  A  study  based  on  a  survey  of 
the  colleges  which  are  members  of  the  Association  of  Collegiate 
Schools  of  Business  gives  the  facts  presented  in  Figures  4  and  5.^ 

'The  data  used  in  these  diagrams  includes  only  collegiate  schools  of 
business  which  are  members  of  the  association. 


GROWTH  AND  POSITION  OF  BUSINESS  EDUCATION      15 


Number  of 
Schools 


2  I 1 — — ^ 

I  q 1 r— ■     I  I  1 1  I 


Q 

10 

0 

vo 

0 

10 

00 

00 

OS 

0 

0 

0 

00 

00 

00 

00 

0 

ON 

Fig.  4. — Number  of  collegiate  schools  of  business  .ounded  in  each  of 
indicated  years. 


22 

21 

19 

i8 

17 
16 

14 
13 
12 
II 

9 
8 

7 
6 

4 
3 
2 

'III 

H 

vO 

0 

^ 

VO 

)_) 

VO 

M 

00 

00 

ON 

0 

0 

0 

H 

M 

W 

00 

00 

00 

00 

On 

On 

ON 

Ov 

ON 

Fig.  5. — Number  of  collegiate  schools  of  business  in  existence  at 
beginning  of  each  indicated  year. 


1 6  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  busi- 
ness education  has  been  undertaken  extensively  by  a  wide 
range  of  institutions  outside  of  the  ordinarily  recognized  schools 
of  commerce.  In  fact,  educational  programs  have  been  exten- 
sively developed  by  institutions  which  have  been  chiefly  thought 
of  heretofore  as  religious  or  social,  but  have  been  stimulated  by 
the  demand  for  business  education.  The  Biennial  Survey  of 
the  Bureau  of  Education  of  the  National  Government,  published 
in  1920,  states,  for  example,  that  there  are  19,056  students  in 
Y.M.C.A.  and  denominational  commercial  schools.  The  work 
of  correspondence  schools  in  this  field  is  emphatically  called  to 
general  attention  through  advertisements.  Accurate  statistics 
concerning  these  schools  are  unobtainable,  and  records  of  growth 
comparable  to  those  given  for  secondary  schools  cannot  be 
presented.  Important,  though  less  well  known,  is  the  business 
training  done  by  part-time  schools,  continuation  schools,  corpo- 
ration schools,  high  schools  of  commerce,  and  the  postgraduate 
technical  courses  in  general  high  schools.  As  most  of  these 
are  discussed  at  some  length  in  later  chapters,  it  is  necessary 
only  to  mention  them  as  important  institutions  in  this  statement 
of  the  growth  and  important  present  position  of  business 
education. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  In  the  field  of  business  education  there  has  been  a  lack  of  those 
extended  and  scientific  studies  which  have  been  common  in  other 
fields  of  education.    How  do  you  account  for  this  fact  ? 

2.  In  Chapter  I  what  comparisons  are  made  in  tables  and  charts  to 
show  the  relative  position  of  business  education?  What  com- 
parisons are  made  to  show  the  relative  position  of  various  kinds 
of  business  education?  Can  you  suggest  other  comparisons 
which  might  be  valuable  in  indicating  the  importance  or  the 
place  of  business  education  ? 

3.  What  was  the  number  enrolled  in  commercial  courses  in  pubHc 
high  schools  in  191 8  ?  the  munber  in  private  conmiercial  schools  ? 
in  private  high  schools  ? 

4.  Make  a  rough  chart  (merely  heavy  horizontal  fines  drawn  approxi- 
mately to  scale)  showing;  (a)  the  number  of  high-school  students 


GROWTH  AND  POSITION  OF  BUSINESS  EDUCATION      17 

in  191 8,  (b)  the  number  of  high-school  students  in  commercial 
courses  in  the  same  year,  (c)  the  average  mmiber  of  commercial 
students  per  high  school,  (d)  the  number  of  students  in  private 
commercial  schools. 

5.  How  do  you  account  for  the  relative  lag  in  the  growth  of  private 
commercial  schools  between  1908  and  19 13?  How  do  you 
accoimt  for  the  spurt  in  business-college  enrolment  between 
1916  and  1918? 

6.  Table  V  shows  the  percentage  of  high-school  students  in  com- 
mercial courses  to  be  13.35  per  cent.     In  a  study  of  the  high 

-schools  of  certain  large  cities,  published  in  191 5,  Superintendent 
F.  V.  Thompson  foimd  that  "on  an  average  about  a  third  of 
all  pupils  in  the  cities  are  in  conomercial  courses."  How  do  you 
account  for  the  differences  in  these  two  reckonings  ? 

7.  Figure  2  shows  the  number  of  schools  reporting  various  percent- 
ages of  pupils  in  commercial  courses.  How  do  you  account  for 
the  irregularity  of  the  ordinates  in  this  diagram  ? 

8.  What  facts  are  disclosed  by  examination  and  comparison  of 
Tables  VI  and  VII  ?  How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  the 
percentages  of  students  in  commercial  courses  in  large  cities  aver- 
age higher  than  in  smaller  commimities  ? 

9.  What  explanation  can  be  given  for  the  fact  that  no  collegiate 
school  of  business  appeared  in  the  United  States  before  1881  ? 
How  do  you  account  for  the  rapid  increase  of  collegiate  schools 
of  commerce  from  1908  to  the  present  time  ? 

10.  Although  private  commercial  schools,  high-school  commercial 
courses,  and  collegiate  schools  of  business  have  attracted  atten- 
tion, there  is  a  long  Hst  of  other  institutions  participating  in 
business  education.  Make  as  long  a  list  as  possible  of  types  of 
institutions  which  are  participating. 

11.  On  the  basis  of  the  data  presented  in  Chapter  I  formulate  a  state- 
ment or  series  of  statements  which  seem  to  you  adequately  to 
express  (a)  the  position  and  (b)  the  importance  of  business  educa- 
tion. Formulate  a  second  series  of  statements  which  seem  to 
you  to  present  adequately  the  position  and  importance  of 
secondary-school  commercial  courses. 


CHAPTER  II 

AN  APPROACH  TO  CURRICULUM-MAKING 

All  useful  study  of  content  in  education  must  lead  toward 
curriculum-making.  The  curriculum  is  the  goal.  It  is  the 
outward  expression  of  the  educational  philosophy.  It  is  the 
device  by  which  educational  thought  is  given  reality  and  made 
of  use  in  accomplishing  purposes.  Beyond  the  curriculum,  of 
course,  lies  educational  method,  which  may  find  expression  in 
texts  or  classroom  practice.  But  the  content  of  classroom 
instruction  is  largely  presupposed  in  the  organization  of  the 
curriculum.  Therefore  in  a  study  concerned  with  content  the 
important  question  is,  How  shall  we  approach  curriculum- 
making  ? 

Several  methods  have  been  used  in  the  formulation  of  the 
curriculum.  One  of  the  most  common  has  been  mere  imitation. 
A  curriculum  was  needed  for  a  given  school;  it  was  obtained 
by  copying  what  was  done  elsewhere  with  little  consideration 
of  its  origin  or  its  applicability.  This  has  been  done  even  by 
the  best  educational  minds  working  under  the  most  auspicious 
circumstances. 

Soon  after  the  American  occupation  of  the  Philippine  Islands, 
the  writer  was  a  member  of  a  committee  of  seven  appointed  to  draw 
up  an  elementary-school  curriculum  for  the  islands.  The  members 
had  all  taught  or  supervised  within  the  islands  for  two  or  three  years 
and  were  reasonably  familiar  with  their  peculiar  conditions.  It  was 
a  virgin  field  in  which  we  were  free  to  recommend  almost  anything 
by  way  of  meeting  the  needs  of  the  population.  We  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  do  a  magnificent  and  original  constructive  piece  of  work. 

And  what  did  we  do?  We  assembled  upon  a  table  in  the 
committee-room  copies  of  the  American  textbooks  in  reading,  arith- 
metic, geography,  United  States  history,  and  the  other  subjects  with 
which  we  had  been  familiar  in  American  schools.  We  also  assembled 
such  American  courses  of  study  as  we  could  find;  and  without  being 
conscious  of  it,  we  mobilized  our  American  prejudices  and  precon- 

i8 


AN  APPROACH  TO  CURRICULUM-MAKING  19 

ceptions  as  to  what  an  elementary-school  course  ought  to  be.  On 
the  basis  of  these  things  we  made  out  a  course  of  study  for  the  tradi- 
tional eight  elementary-school  grades.  We  provided  the  traditional 
amount  of  each  subject  for  each  grade,  distributed  them  as  in 
American  schools,  and  recommended  American  textbooks  for  the 
work. 

The  thing  was  not  adapted  to  the  conditions  within  the  islands. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  did  not  try  to  adapt  it  to  those  conditions — 
though  we  honestly  thought  that  we  were  doing  the  thing  needed. 
The  difficulty  was  that  our  minds  ran  so  completely  in  the  grooves 
of  traditional  thought  that  we  did  not  realize  the  possibihty  of  any- 
thing else.  We  greatly  needed  something  to  shatter  our  self- 
complacency  and  bring  us  to  see  education  in  terms  of  the  society 
that  was  to  be  educated.  We  needed  principles  of  curriculum- 
making.^ 

The  business  courses  in  the  high  schools  of  the  United  States 
furnish  any  number  of  instances  of  imitation  of  one  another. 
Likewise  they  furnish  many  examples  of  pure  imitation  of  the 
business  college.  Colleges  and  universities,  in  many  cases,  are 
no  exception.  They  have  copied  one  another;  they  have  copied 
the  secondary  schools;  they  have  copied  the  business  colleges; 
and  they  have  copied  the  correspondence  schools. 

Where  a  more  thoughtful  procedure  has  been  employed  in 
curriculum-making,  it  has  been  common  to  combine  a  number 
of  studies  to  each  of  which  certain  values  have  been  ascribed. 

The  idea  is  prevalent  that  different  studies  represent  separate 
kinds  of  values,  and  that  the  curriculum  should,  therefore,  be  con- 
stituted by  gathering  together  various  studies  till  a  sufficient  variety 
of  independent  values  have  been  cared  for.  The  following  quotation 
does  not  use  the  value,  but  it  contains  the  notion  of  a  curriculum 
constructed  on  the  idea  that  there  are  a  number  of  separate  ends  to 
be  reached  and  that  various  studies  may  be  evaluated  by  referring 
each  study  to  its  respective  end.  "Memory  is  trained  by  most 
studies,  but  best  by  languages  and  history,  taste  is  trained  by  the 
more  advanced  study  of  languages,  and  still  better  by  EngUsh 
literature;  imagination  by  all  higher  language  teaching,  but  chiefly 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  Franklin  Bobbitt,  The  Curriculum, 
pp.  282-83.    Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  191 8. 


20  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

by  Greek  and  Latin  poetry;  observation  by  science  work  in  the 
laboratory,  though  some  training  is  to  be  got  from  the  earUer  stages 
of  Latin  and  Greek;  for  expression,  Greek  and  Latin  composition 
come  first  and  English  composition  next;  for  abstract  reasoning, 
mathematics  stands  ahnost  alone;  for  concrete  reasoning,  the  Greek 
and  Roman  historians  and  orators  come  first,  and  general  history 
next.  Hence  the  narrowest  education  which  can  claim  to  be  at  all 
complete  includes  Latin,  one  modern  language,  some  history,  some 
English  literature  and  one  science." 

There  is  much  in  the  wording  of  this  passage  which  is  irrelevant 
to  our  point,  and  which  must  be  discoimted  to  make  it  clear.  The 
phraseology  betrays  the  particular  provincial  tradition  within  which 
the  author  is  writing.  There  is  the  imquestioned  assumption  of 
'* faculties"  to  be  trained,  and  a  dominant  interest  in  the  ancient 
languages;  there  is  a  comparative  disregard  of  the  earth  on  which 
men  happen  to  live  and  the  bodies  they  happen  to  carry  around  with 
them.  But  with  allowances  made  for  these  matters  (even  with  their 
complete  abandonment)  we  find  much  in  contemporary  educational 
philosophy  which  parallels  the  fimdamental  notion  of  parceling  out 
special  values  to  segregated  studies.  Even  when  some  one  end  is 
set  up  as  a  standard  of  value,  like  social  efiiciency  or  culture,  it  will 
often  be  foimd  to  be  but  a  verbal  heading  under  which  a  variety  of 
disconnected  factors  are  comprised.  And  although  the  general  ten- 
dency is  to  allow  a  greater  variety  of  values  to  a  given  study  than 
does  the  passage  quoted,  yet  the  attempt  to  inventory  a  number  of 
values  attaching  to  each  study  and  to  state  the  amount  of  each 
value  which  the  given  study  possesses  emphasizes  an  implied  educa- 
tional disintegration.* 

This  method  of  curriculum  construction  has  long  been  an 
underlying  assumption  in  the  minds  of  many  educators.  Once 
we  hold  it  up  for  inspection  its  vigor  lessens.  It  is  thus  criticized 
by  Dewey: 

We  cannot  establish  a  hierarchy  of  values  among  studies.  It  is 
futile  to  attempt  to  arrange  them  in  an  order  beginning  with  one 
having  least  worth  and  going  on  to  that  of  maximiun  value 

It  also  follows  that  the  attempt  to  distribute  distinct  sorts  of 
value  among  different  studies  is  a  misguided  one,  in  spite  of  the 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  John  Dewey,  Democracy  and  Education, 
pp.  286-87.    Macmillan  Co.,  1916. 


AN  APPROACH  TO  CURRICULUM-MAKING  2i 

amount  of  time  recently  devoted  to  the  undertaking.  Science  for 
example  may  have  any  kind  of  value,  depending  upon  the  situation 
into  which  it  enters  as  a  means.  To  some  the  value  of  science  may 
be  miHtary;  it  may  be  an  instnunent  in  strengthening  means  of 
offense  or  defense;  it  may  be  technological,  a  tool  for  engineering; 
or  it  may  be  commercial — and  aid  in  the  successful  conduct  of  busi- 
ness; under  other  conditions,  its  worth  may  be  philanthropic — the 
service  it  renders  in  relieving  human  suffering;  or  again  it  may  be 
quite  conventional — of  value  in  establishing  one's  social  status  as  an 
"educated"  person.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  science  serves  all  these 
purposes,  and  it  would  be  an  arbitrary  task  to  try  to  fix  upon  one 
of  them  as  its  "real"  end.  All  that  we  can  be  sure  of  educationally 
is  that  science  should  be  taught  so  as  to  be  an  end  in  itself  in  the  lives 
of  students — something  worth  while  on  account  of  its  own  unique 
intrinsic  contribution  to  the  experience  of  Hfe.  Primarily  it  must 
have  "appreciation  value."  It  we  take  something  which  seems  to 
be  at  the  opposite  pole,  like  poetry,  the  same  sort  of  statement  applies. 
It  may  be  that,  at  the  present  time,  its  chief  value  is  the  contribution 
it  makes  to  the  enjoyment  of  leisure.  But  that  may  represent  a 
degenerate  condition  rather  than  anything  necessary.  Poetry  has 
historically  been  allied  with  religion  and  morals;  it  has  served  the 
purpose  of  penetrating  the  mysterious  depths  of  things.  It  has  had 
an  enormous  patriotic  value.  Homer  to  the  Greeks  was  a  Bible,  a 
textbook  of  morals,  a  history,  and  a  national  inspiration.  In  any 
case,  it  may  be  said  that  an  education  which  does  not  succeed  in 
making  poetry  a  resource  in  the  business  of  life  as  well  as  in  its  leisure, 
has  something  the  matter  with  it — or  else  the  poetry  is  artificial 
poetry. 

The  same  considerations  apply  to  the  value  of  a  study  or  a  topic 
of  a  study  with  reference  to  its  motivating  force.  Those  responsible 
for  planning  and  teaching  the  course  of  study  should  have  grounds 
for  thinking  that  the  studies  and  topics  included  furnish  both  direct 
increments  to  the  enriching  of  lives  of  the  pupils  and  also  materials 
which  they  can  put  to  use  in  other  concerns  of  direct  interest.  Since 
the  curriculum  is  always  getting  loaded  down  with  purely  inherited 
traditional  matter  and  with  subjects  which  represent  mainly  the 
energy  of  some  influential  person  or  group  of  persons  in  behalf  of 
something  dear  to  them,  it  requires  constant  inspection,  criticism, 
and  revision  to  make  sure  it  is  accomplishing  its  purpose.  Then 
there  is  always  the  probability   that  it  represents   the  values  of 


22  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

adults  rather  than  those  of  children  and  youth,  or  those  of  pupils  a 
generation  ago  rather  than  those  of  the  present  day.  Hence  a  further 
need  for  a  critical  outlook  and  survey.  But  these  considerations  do 
not  mean  that  for  a  subject  to  have  motivating  value  to  a  pupil 
(whether  intrinsic  or  instrumental)  is  the  same  thing  as  for  him  to  be 
aware  of  the  value,  or  to  be  able  to  tell  what  the  study  is  good 

for 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  such  schemes  of  values  of  studies  are  largely, 
but  unconsciously  justifications  of  the  curriculum  with  which  one 
is  famiHar.  One  accepts,  for  the  most  part,  the  studies  of  the  exist- 
ing course  and  then  assigns  values  to  them  as  a  sufficient  reason  for 
their  being  taught.  Mathematics  is  said  to  have,  for  example,  dis- 
ciplinary value  in  habituating  the  pupil  to  accuracy  of  statement 
and  closeness  of  reasoning,  it  has  utilitarian  value,  in  giving  command 
of  the  arts  of  calculation  involved  in  trade  and  the  arts;  culture 
value  in  its  enlargement  of  the  imagination  in  dealing  with  the  most 
general  relation  of  things;  even  religious  value  in  its  concept  of  the 
infinite  and  allied  ideas.  But  clearly  mathematics  does  not  accom- 
plish such  results,  because  it  is  endowed  with  miraculous  potencies 
called  values;  it  has  these  values  if  and  when  it  accomplishes  these 
results  and  not  otherwise.  The  statements  may  help  a  teacher  to 
a  larger  vision  of  the  possible  results  to  be  effected  by  instruction  in 
mathematical  topics.  But  unfortunately,  the  tendency  is  to  treat 
•  the  statement  as  indicating  powers  inherently  residing  in  the  subject, 
whether  they  operate  or  not,  and  thus  to  give  it  a  rigid  justification. 
If  they  do  not  operate,  the  blame  is  not  put  on  the  subject  as  taught, 
but  on  the  indifference  and  recalcitrancy  of  pupils.^ 

A  third  method  of  curriculum-making  might  be  called  the 
"interests  theory."  This  method  is  somewhat  similar  to  the 
second.  It  is  a  method  of  which  much  has  been  heard  in  these 
days  when  a  great  variety  of  new  subjects  has  arisen  for  which 
their  advocates  are  seeking  a  philosophical  justification.  This 
scheme,  however,  appears  to  be  as  open  to  objection  as  the 
preceding  one. 

Life  presents  a  diversity  of  interests.  Left  to  themselves,  they 
tend  to  encroach  on  one  another.  The  ideal  is  to  prescribe  a  special 
territory  for  each  till  the  whole  ground  of  experience  is  covered,  and 

^  Op.  cit.,  pp.  281-82,  287-88. 


AN  APPROACH  TO  CURRICULUM-MAKING  23 

then  see  to  it  each  remains  within  its  own  boundaries.  Politics, 
business,"  recreation,  art,  science,  the  learned  professions,  pohte 
intercourse,  leisure,  represent  such  interests.  Each  of  these  ramifies 
into  many  branches:  business  into  manual  occupations,  executive 
positions,  bookkeeping,  railroading,  banking,  agriculture,  trade  and 
commerce,  etc.,  and  so  .with  each  of  the  others.  An  ideal  education 
would  then  supply  the  means  of  meeting  these  separate  and  pigeon- 
holed interests.  And  when  we  look  at  the  schools,  it  is  easy  to  get 
the  impression  that  they  accept  this  view  of  the  nature  of  adult  life, 
and  set  for  themselves  the  task  of  meeting  its  demands.  Each  inter- 
est is  acknowledged  as  a  kind  of  fixed  institution  to  which  something 
in  the  course  of  study  must  correspond.  The  course  of  study  must 
then  have  some  civics  and  history  politically  and  patriotically  viewed; 
some  utilitarian  studies;  some  science;  some  art  (mainly  literature 
of  course) ;  some  provision  for  recreation;  some  moral  education,  and 
so  on.  And  it  will  be  found  that  a  large  part  of  current  agitation 
about  schools  is  concerned  with  clamor  and  controversy  about  the 
due  need  of  recognition  to  be  given  to  each  of  these  interests,  and  with 
struggles  to  secure  for  each  its  due  share  in  the  course  of  study;  or, 
if  this  does  not  seem  feasible  in  the  existing  school  system,  then  to 
secure  a  new  and  separate  kind  of  schooling  to  meet  the  need.  In 
the  multitude  of  educations  education  is  forgotten. 

The  obvious  outcome  is  congestion  of  the  course  of  study,  over- 
pressure, and  distraction  of  pupils,  and  a  narrow  specialization  fatal 
to  the  very  idea  of  education.  But  these  bad  results  usually  lead 
to  more  of  the  same  sort  of  thing  as  a  remedy.  When  it  is  perceived 
that  after  all  the  requirements  of  a  full  Ufe  experience  are  not  met, 
the  deficiency  is  not  laid  to  the  isolation  and  narrowness  of  the  teach- 
ing of  the  existing  subjects,  and  this  recognition  made  the  basis  of 
reorganization  and  the  system 

The  situation  has,  of  course,  its  historic  explanation.  Various 
epochs  of  the  past  have  had  their  own  characteristic  struggles  and 
interests.  Each  of  these  great  epochs  has  left  behind  itself  a  kind 
of  cultural  deposit,  like  a  geologic  stratum.  These  deposits  have 
found  their  way  into  educational  institutions  in  the  form  of  studies, 
distinct  courses  of  study,  distinct  types  of  schools.  With  the  rapid 
change  of  poUtical,  scientific,  and  economic  interests  in  the  last 
century  provision  had  to  be  made  for  new  values.  Though  the 
older  courses  resisted,  they  have  had  at  least  in  this  country  to  retire 
their  pretensions  to  a  monopoly.    They  have  not,  however,  been 


24  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

reorganized  in  content  and  aim,  they  have  only  been  reduced  in 
amount.  The  new  studies,  representing  the  new  interests,  have  not 
been  used  to  transform  the  method  and  aim  of  all  instruction,  they 
have  been  injected  and  added  on.  The  result  is  a  conglomerate,  the 
cement  of  which  consists  in  the  mechanics  of  the  school  program  or 
time  table.' 

Less  definite,  but  still,  to  some  persons,  important  principles 
to  be  followed  in  organizing  the  curriculum  are  the  notions  of 
moral  and  mental  discipline  and  the  matter  of  the  students' 
tastes.  These  must  be  cared  for,  it  is  asserted.  And  if  these 
are  cared  for  the  curriculum  is  satisfactory.  Caring  for  taste 
and,  perhaps  even  more,  caring  for  discipline  have  at  times  gone 
to  great  lengths.  But  this  basis  for  curriculum-making,  like 
those  that  have  preceded,  finds  its  strength  questioned  and 
even  ridiculed  in  this  day  of  more  liberal  and  more  careful 
thought. 

It  is,  indeed,  absurd  to  invent  formal  difficulties  for  the  professed 
purpose  of  discipline,  when,  within  the  limits  of  science,  industr>', 
literature,  and  poUtics,  real  problems  abound.  Method  can  be  best 
acquired,  and  stands  the  best  chance  of  being  acquired,  if  real  issues 
are  presented.  Are  problems  any  the  less  problems  because  a  boy 
attacks  them  with  intelligence  and  zest  ?  He  does  not  attack  them 
because  they  are  easy,  nor  does  he  shrink  from  them  because 
they  are  hard.  He  attacks  them,  if  he  has  been  wisely  trained, 
because  they  challenge  his  powers.  And  in  this  attack  he  gets  what 
the  conventional  school  so  generally  fails  to  give — the  energizing 
of  his  faculties,  and  a  directive  clue  as  to  where  he  will  find  a  con- 
genial and  effective  object  in  life.^ 

Anyone  who  has  taught  courses  dealing  with  the  curriculum 
has  found  firmly  fixed  in  the  minds  of  his  students  an  adherence 
to  one  or  more  of  the  schemes  of  curriculum-making  discussed 
above.  All  of  us  perhaps  have  been  at  one  time  or  another 
under  the  spell  of  some  of  them.  But  in  attempting  to  formu- 
late a  curriculum  for  business  education  the  writer  has  found  all 

'  Op.  cit.,  pp.  288-90. 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  Abraham  Flexner,  A  Modern  School, 
p.  21.     General  Education  Board,  1916. 


AN  APPROACH  TO  CURRICULUM-MAKING  25 

these  plans  almost  futile.  They  seem  to  lead  nowhere,  to  make 
the  student  satisfied  with  the  most  conventional  imitation,  to 
repress  vigorous  thinking,  as  to  either  the  purposes  or  the  results 
of  an  organized  course  of  study. 

What  follows  is,  then,  an  effort  to  apply  a  new  point  of  view 
to  the  study  of  education  for  business  and  to  the  formulation  of 
curricula  for  that  purpose.  Some  special  emphasis  will  be 
placed  on  commercial  education  in  the  secondary  schools. 

An  adequate  approach  to  education  for  business  involves  a 
careful  examination  of  two  matters :  First,  we  must  determine  the 
purpose  of  business  education.  We  must  ascertain  objectives, 
ends.  We  must  ask  and  answer.  What  is  the  task  or  function 
of  education  for  business  in  society  as  it  now  exists  ?  Later  we 
may  organize  appropriate  studies  as  means.  But  to  try  to  plan  a 
curriculum  before  we  know  its  purpose  is  unavailing.  It  is  as 
useless  as  to  set  architects  to  work  to  design  a  building  without 
stating  the  use  to  which  the  structure  is  to  be  put. 

When  we  are  as  clear  as  possible  as  to  purposes,  we  may 
sensibly  go  about  planning  methods.  But  even  then  we  can- 
not immediately  plan  the  curriculum  for  the  high-school  com- 
mercial course,  the  collegiate  school  of  business,  the  business 
college,  or  any  other  one  type  of  business- training  institution. 
For  no  one  type  of  institution  does  the  job  alone.  As  our  second 
task,  we  must  examine  all  of  those  agencies  which  play  a  part 
in  business  education  and  attempt  to  divide  among  them  the 
total  task  of  educating  for  business.  Modern  social  organiza- 
tion is  an  organization  of  specialists,  and  to  nothing  does  this 
statement  apply  more  than  to  educational  institutions.  We  can 
conclude  as  to  the  objectives  of  any  one  institution  only  when 
we  have  examined  all  of  them  and  estimated  their  possibilities. 
It  is  only,  then,  when  we  assign  duty  to  each,  that  we  can  intel- 
ligently assign  duty  to  any. 

If  we  are  interested,  for  example,  in  how  to  organize  the 
curriculum  of  the  high-school  commercial  course  we  cannot 
think  of  that  alone.  We  must  think  of  it  as  one  of  a  battery 
of  institutions.  Its  proper  work  is  the  work  which  must  be 
done,  but  which  other  pieces  of  social  machinery  cannot  do 


26 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


better.  The  same  statement  holds  good  for  the  business 
college,  the  corporation  school,  or  any  other  device  for  business 
education  which  we  may  consider.  When  we  have  seen  the 
purpose  of  the  whole  and  have  defined  the  part  which  is  to  be 
played  by  the  institution  in  which  we  are  interested,  then,  and 
only  then,  are  we  ready  to  consider  curriculum. 

What  has  been  said  above  may  be  presented  diagram- 
ma  tically: 


OBJECTIVES  OF  BUSINESS  EDUCATION 


ACCOMPLISHED  BY  COMBINED  WORK  OF  SUCH  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS  AS 


HIGH-SCHOOL 

COMMERCIAL 

COURSE 


COLLEGIATE 

SCHOOL  OF 

BUSINESS 


BUSINESS 
COLLEGE 


FOR  EACH  OF  WHICH 

I 


A  CURRICULUM  IS  NEEDED  ACCORDING  TO  THE 
PART  WHICH  IT  CAN  PLAY  BEST  IN  ACCOMPLISH. 
ING  THE  OBJECTIVES  OF  BUSINESS  EDUCATION. 


The  task,  thus,  for  anyone  who  is  interested  in  business  educa- 
tion can  be  divided  into  three  stages. 

1.  He  must  determine  the  purposes,  or  task,  or  function  of 
education  for  business  in  modern  society. 

2.  He  must  examine  the  several  institutions  which,  in  our 
specialized  society,  can  well  participate  in  accompHshing  those 
purposes  and  determine  the  part  which  can  properly  be  played 
by  the  institution  in  which  he  is  interested. 

3.  He  must  plan  the  organization  of  work  (the  curriculum) 
which  will  best  achieve  that  specialized  part  which  this  institu- 
tion undertakes. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  "All  useful  studies  of  content  in  education  must  lead  toward 
curriculum-making."    Is  this  statement  justified  ? 

2.  "All  branches  of  human  activity  have  risen  above  the  stage  of 
empiricism  and  rule  of  thumb  only  as  they  have  been  able  to 
build  upon  the  accumulated  facts  of  experience  and  accurate 
conclusions  drawn  therefrom."  Explain  and  comment  on  the 
truth  or  untruth  of  this  statement. 


AN  APPROACH  TO  CURRICULUM-MAKING  27 

3.  The  quotation  in  Question  2  is  used  to  introduce  a  discussion  of 
"scientific  management  or  organization  in  business."  Has  it 
any  pertinence  in  a  study  of  an  educational  problem  ? 

4.  What  is  your  idea  of  the  "rule  of  thumb"  in  business?  Is  there 
any  of  it  in  school  work  ?  If  so,  make  a  list  of  some  of  the  factors 
that  tend  to  keep  it  in  control.  What  factors,  if  any,  tend  to 
make  control  more  rational — tend  toward  a  more  "scientific 
management "  ? 

5.  "It  is  a  splendid  exercise  for  every  man,  at  least  once  in  his  life, 
to  throw  himself  unreservedly  and  with  enthusiasm  into  some 
study  and  for  a  time  'go  the  limit'  in  thoroughness,  accuracy, 
caution  and  open-mindedness.  Such  an  experience  will  exert  a 
lasting  and  beneficial  influence  upon  his  thinking."  Can  this 
be  done  in  a  study  of  curriculum  making  ?  Does  it  necessitate 
the  "scientific  attitude"  ? 

6.  "The  school  teacher  is  'an  old  fogy'  says  the  business  man;  the 
business  man  has  little  culture  and  questionable  motives  says  the 
pedagogue."  Have  these  been  somewhat  common  views?  If 
so,  why  ?  What  factors  are  at  work  to  intensify  or  modify  these 
attitudes  ? 

7.  If  examination  and  imitation  of  other  courses  is  not  to  be  made  the 
basis  for  formulating  curricula,  what  other  methods  might  be  used? 

8.  "Different  studies  represent  different  kinds  of  values.  The 
curriculum  should,  therefore,  be  constituted  by  gathering  together 
various  studies  until  a  sufiicient  variety  of  independent  values 
has  been  cared  for."  Support  or  criticize  this  statement.  Upon 
what  concepts  is  it  based  ? 

9.  "We  cannot  establish  a  hierarchy  of  values  among  studies." 
Explain.    If  not,  how  choose  at  all  ? 

[Q.  What  is  your  understanding  of  the  "interests  theory"  of 
curriculum-making  ? 

[I.  "Since  the  curriculum  is  always  getting  loaded  down  with  purely 
inherited  traditional  matter  and  with  subjects  which  represent 
mainly  the  energy  of  some  influential  person  or  group  of  persons 
in  behalf  of  something  dear  to  them,  it  requires  constant  inspec- 
tion, criticism  and  revision  to  make  sure  it  is  accomplishing  its 
purpose."  Is  there  any  such  traditional  matter  in  the  usual 
high-school  or  college  business  curriculum?  What  subjects 
might  be  open  to  this  charge  ?  If  any,  attempt  to  explain  how 
th'ey  "arrived"  and  "stayed"  in  the  form  in  which  they  exist. 


28  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

12.  *'One  accepts,  for  the  most  part,  the  studies  of  the  existing 
courses  and  assumes  from  the  fact  that  they  are  there,  that  there 
is  sufficient  reason  for  their  being  taught."  Is  there  truth  in 
this  statement  ?  Is  there  a  tendency  to  blame  the  pupil  rather 
than  the  subjects  if  curricula  so  justified  fail  ? 

13.  What  would  you  understand  to  be  meant  by  the  expression  the 
"check  and  balance  theory"  of  curriculum  construction? 

14.  "In  the  multitude  of  educations,  education  is  forgotten." 
Explain. 

15.  "The  present  commercial  course  in  secondary  schools  is  a  hodge- 
podge of  misceUaneous  and  ill  assorted  fragments."  Does  this 
overstate  or  understate  the  situation  as  you  see  it  ? 

16.  Students  of  business  subjects  are  pointing  out  that  nothing  is 
more  valuable  than  a  systematic  approach  to  a  problem  from  a 
new  point  of  view.  Can  such  an  approach  "from  the  outside" 
be  of  any  use  in  a  study  of  commercial  curricula  ? 

17.  "The  commercial  curriculum  may  be  a  problem,  but  in  the 
secondary  schools,  at  least,  it  can  never  be  improved  by  outsiders. 
Such  persons  have  nothing  to  offer  but  impractical  theories." 
Comment  on  this  statement. 

18.  "The  most  practical  thing  in  the  world  is  theory."     Comment. 

19.  What  reasons  can  you  list  for  believing  that  a  new  point  of  view 
in  commercial  training  might  prove  fertile;  wherein  lies  the 
"fertility  of  a  new  point  of  view"  ? 

20.  What  could  you  list  under  the  caption  "Enemies  of  Originality 
and  Advance  in  Commercial  Education"  ? 

21.  An  attitude  of  friendly  but  complete  skepticism  is  needed  in 
approaching  a  problem  of  curriculum.  No  study  in  the  business 
course  of  high  school  or  college  has  proved  its  right  to  a  place. 
Can  you  take  this  attitude  ? 

22.  Outline  the  plan  for  an  approach  to  business  education  suggested 
in  Chapter  II.  How  would  you  suggest  determining  the  pur- 
pose or  task  of  education  for  business  ? 


PART  II 

THE  OBJECTIVES  OF  EDUCATION  FOR 
BUSINESS 


CHAPTER  HI 
WHAT  IS  BUSINESS? 

INTRODUCTORY  STATEMENT 

In  attempting  to  arrive  at  the  objectives  of  education  for 
business,  it  is  proposed  that  certain  evidence  be  examined.  In 
part  the  evidence  is  the  evidence  of  circumstances;  in  part  it  is 
personal  testimony  and  opinion. 

It  seems  reasonable  to  believe  that  in  arriving  at  the  objec- 
tives of  education  for  business  one  should  consider  very  carefully 
what  this  thing  "business"  is.  In  our  study  of  "what  busmess 
is"  we  shall  be  concerned  in  part  with  the  way  in  which  business 
is  conducted  and  in  part  with  the  social  implications  of  business. 
Both  of  these  viewpoints  will  have  suggestion  for  our  purposes. 

A  second  field  of  evidence  which  we  shall  examine  in  our 
effort  to  determine  the  objectives  of  education  for  business  may 
be  designated  "what  business  says  it  wants."  That  is,  we  shall 
turn  to  business  itself  in  our  inquiry  of  what  education  is  needed 
for  business.  In  studying  what  business  says  it  wants,  however, 
there  are  two  quite  different  methods  of  securing  information. 
One  method  is  to  take  the  direct  statements  of  business  men 
when  they  have  been  thinking  definitely  about  the  question. 
Such  statements  appear  in  their  public  addresses,  printed  papers, 
and  occasional  books.  A  second  method  is  to  study  the  occupa- 
tions of  persons  in  business,  to  analyze  these  occupations,  and  to 
conclude  concerning  the  education  necessary  for  performance  in 
them.  The  amount  of  such  indirect  evidence  is  fortunately 
considerable:  it  appears  in  replies  to  questionnaires  which  have 
been  circulated  a  nong  business  houses,  in  educational  surveys, 
and  in  the  studies  and  occupational  analyses  of  various  govern- 
mental agencies. 

Finally,  in  arriving  at  the  objectives  of  education  for  busi- 
ness, we  may  find  help  in  a  consideration  of  the  purposes  of  all 
education.    There  is  not,  and  perhaps  can  never  be,  any  real 

31 


32  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

objective  proof  of  what  these  properly  are.  All  that  can  be 
done  is  to  survey  the  statements  of  those  persons  whose  views 
have  won  them  attention  and  respect.  We  should  notice,  how- 
ever, that  the  students  who  have  given  most  thought  to  such 
general  purposes  have  not  been  concerned  primarily  with  educa- 
tion for  business.  A  study  of  the  general  purposes  of  education, 
therefore,  is  not  significant  in  arriving  at  the  objectives  of 
business  education  excepting  when  it  is  carried  on  as  part  of 
public-school  work.  But  when  such  is  the  case,  a  departure 
from  accepted  principles  of  public  education  would  seem  to  re- 
quire an  explanation. 

A  VIEW  OF  WHAT  BUSINESS  IS 

Many  people,  when  they  think  of  business,  bring  to  mind 
a  somewhat  inchoate  lot  of  images  concerned  with  buying  and 
selling,  price-making,  profit-seeking,  and  overwork,  blended  with 
ideas  of  efficient  competition  and  unfair  practices.  It  goes 
without  saying  that  such  a  collection  of  notions  gives  no  view 
of  business  in  a  large  sense  and  gives  no  notion  of  the  social 
importance  or  significance  of  business  as  a  whole.  It  is  the 
purpose  of  this  section  to  set  forth  an  idea  of  what  business  is, 
and  of  the  social  work  which  business  performs.  It  is  purposed 
to  do  this  that  we  may,  from  an  examination  of  what  business 
is,  see  more  clearly  the  form  of  education  which  will  prepare 
people  for  engaging  in  commercial  and  industrial  enterprises. 

An  understanding  of  what  business  is,  requires  an  examina- 
tion of  some  facts  which  are  of  basic  importance.  These  facts 
are  elementary  enough  to  the  student  of  economics,  though 
they  are  sometimes  overlooked  even  by  him  in  certain  aspects 
of  his  work. 

Humankind  has  found  itself  in  this  world  confronted  by 
two  matters  of  elementary  significance:  One  of  these  is  the 
fact  of  wants.  We  want  things,  and,  as  the  economist  has 
pointed  out  oyer  and  over  again,  these  wants  seem  to  be  capable 
of  limitless  multiplication.  New  wants  grow  apace.  "The 
more  we  have  the  more  we  want"  may  not  be  literally  true,  but 
it  is  true  certainly  that  we  have  never  yet  had  a  stage  of  society 


WHAT  IS  BUSINESS?  33 

in  which  all  persons  had  everything  they  wanted.     We  have 
then  the  basic  fact  of  wants. 

If  we  can  think  of  society  as  a  group  of  persons  interested 
in  gratifying  its  wants,  it  is  pertinent  next  to  notice  the  materials 
from  which  want-gratifying  goods  may  be  made.  Society  has 
on  hand  a  supply  of  such  materials — social  resources  they  may 
well  be  called.  Although  the  total  amount  of  these  resources 
is  considerable,  they  can  be  put  into  only  a  few  classes.  It  is 
worth  while  to  put  first  the  natural  resources.  These  are  of 
varied  kinds,  such  as  fertile  land,  minerals,  water-power,  timber 
suppUes,  and  the  many  factors  which  make  up  climatic  condi- 
tions. So  important  are  these  resources  that  persons  who  are 
interested  in  geographic  study  are  likely  to  express  man's 
dependence  upon  them  in  such  terms  as  these: 

All  these  materials  for  a  living  come  directly  or  indirectly  out 
of  the  soil  or  crust  of  the  earth.  The  man  in  a  ship  at  sea  or  in  a  steel 
sky-scraper  in  a  modem  city  gets  his  sustenance  from  the  soil  just  as 
surely  as  does  the  farmer  who  takes  potatoes  from  the  furrow. 
Each  particular  method  by  which  a  man  gets  some  useful  commodity 
leads  to  an  industry  often  of  world-wide  distribution.  To  understand 
the  way  the  human  race  turns  the  earth  into  its  home,  w'e  have  but 
to  study  the  various  industries  by  which  groups  of  men  achieve  their 
living. 

While  ultimately  depending  upon  the  contents  of  the  earth's 
crust,  most  of  our  living  comes  indirectly  through  the  intermediate 
stages  of  plant  and  animal  life,  the  crust  itself  supplying  directly  but 
a  small  part  of  our  wants.  In  and  upon  the  earth  is  the  indispensable 
water,  without  which  we  would  promptly  perish.  While  the  more 
solid  substances  of  the  earth's  crust  are  also  directly  available  and 
of  great  value,  as  salt,  building  stones,  and  metals,  we  depend  chiefly 
upon  vegetation  for  our  support.  The  plants  grow  from  the  soil. 
We  eat  them  or  clothe  ourselves  with  their  fibres,  cut  them  into  pieces, 
shape  them  into  tools,  and  build  our  houses  and  bams,  extract  their 
juices  and  dig  their  roots  for  dmgs  and  medicines.  We  bum  them  for 
fuel,  shape  them  into  articles  of  luxury,  and  thus  make  them  help  in 
the  supply  of  some  of  the  wants  of  each  of  the  six  classes.  The 
animals  in  tum  eat  the  plants  and  each  other,  and  fumish  us  their 
meat  and  milk  as  nourishment;  their  wool  and  furs  become  our 
clothing,  their  tougher  hides  make  our  shoe  leather,  the  tents  of  the 


34  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

nomad,  and  the  belts  of  the  engine  wheel,  while  the  cultural  services 
are  hinted  by  the  soft  leather  bindings  of  our  choicest  books.' 

A  second  type  of  raw  material  or  social  resource  of  which 
society  has  a  considerable,  but  limited  supply,  is  its  labor  power. 
Definitions  of  labor  power  are  many.  One  writer  defines  labor 
as  ''The  application  of  human  faculties  to  the  production  of 
wealth."  Says  another  writer,  "Labor  is  the  voluntary  exer- 
tion of  bodily  or  mental  faculties  for  the  purpose  of  production." 
But  whatever  the  differences  of  detail  in  the  definitions  of  labor, 
most  of  them  bring  us  back  to  the  thought  that  labor  is  simply 
the  physical  or  mental  effort  which  may  be  used  for  the  creation 
of  those  goods  which  gratify  human  wants. 

Fortunately  we  are  not  compelled  to  turn  natural  resources 
into  want-gratifying  goods  with  our  bare-handed  labor  power. 
During  the  past  we  have  accumulated,  viewing  us  as  a  social 
group,  a  very  considerable  number  of  implements,  and  these 
implements  may  be  thought  of  as  a  third  material,  or  social 
resource.  These  implements  are  all  about  us  in  innumerable 
forms.  Not  only  tools  and  machinery,  but  factory  buildings, 
railroads,  sidewalks,  office  buildings,  drainage  systems,  are  all 
examples  of  mechanical  devices  which  we  have  created  for  use 
in  the  task  of  want-gratifying.  The  economist  calls  this  class 
of  goods  capital,  and  the  economist  defines  capital  as  the  goods 
which  we  have  produced  with  past  effort,  which  we  do  not 
consume  directly  in  gratifying  wants,  but  which  we  use  to  help 
to  produce  other  goods.  Although  when  our  attention  is 
centered  upon  natural  resources  as  a  production  resource,  or 
upon  labor,  it  is  easy  to  make  us  feel  its  importance  almost 
to  the  exclusion  of  everything  else,  still  it  will  be  seen  with  a 
moment's  thought  how  largely  we  depend  upon  our  resources 
of  capital.  Almost  every  task  is  aided  by  some  mechanical 
contrivance,  large  or  small.  In  many  cases  the  machine  has 
almost,  if  not  entirely,  eliminated  the  necessity  of  human  effort. 

A  final  form  of  social  resource  may  be  designated  as  acquired 
knowledge,  or  possibly  better  by  some  such  composite  term 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  J.  Russell  Smith,  Industrial  and  Com- 
mercial Geography,  p.  3.    H.  Holt  &  Co.,  1913. 


WHAT  IS  BUSINESS?  35 

as  acquired  knowledge  and  institutions.  Perhaps  under  this 
heading  should  go  the  acquirements  of  society  in  fields  of 
learning,  perhaps  our  accumulated  knowledge  of  mathematics, 
chemistry,  physics,  and  the  like.  It  is  only  fair  to  observe, 
however,  that  these  can  be  thought  of  as  characteristics  of  labor 
power,  that  is,  phases  of  an  individual's  knowledge,  or  else 
they  are  in  books  and  may  therefore  be  considered  as  capital. 
On  the  other  hand  there  are  certain  qualities  and  characteristics 
of  individuals  which  apparently  are  not  their  possession  alone. 
Such  ethical  attributes  as  honesty,  morality,  respectability, 
courtesy,  and  fairness  are  not,  and  cannot  be,  the  acquirements 
of  individuals.  By  their  very  nature  they  imply  a  social  situa- 
tion. There  cannot  be  such  a  thing  as  honesty  excepting  in 
terms  of  certain  social  standards.  Society  in  its  development 
has  built  up  a  great  mass  of  possessions  of  this  character. 
Conceive  of  carrying  on  the  work  of  the  everyday  world  as  we 
know  it  without  our  social  standards  of  honesty,  truthfulness, 
good  faith,  reliability,  punctuality,  or  any  of  a  dozen  other 
such  virtues,  and  one  senses  the  significance  of  this  form  of 
resources  in  the  work  of  creating  want-gratifying  goods.  Per- 
haps in  this  same  class  of  resources  should  be  thrown  language 
and  writing,  as  these  communicating  devices,  somewhat  like 
those  traits  which  have  been  discussed  above,  are  meaningless 
excepting  in  a  social  sense. 

Society  has  then  at  hand,  in  its  effort  to  produce  whatever 
it  can  produce  of  want-gratifying  goods,  a  certain  stock  of 
materials.  These  materials  we  may  speak  of  as  society's  social 
resources.  This  stock  includes  our  supply  of  natural  resources, 
of  labor  power,  of  capital,  and  of  acquired  knowledge  and  institu- 
tions.  Diagrammatically,  this  notion  may  be  presented  as  follows: 


SOCIAL  RESOURCES 

NATURAL  RESOURCES 

LABOR  POWER 

CAPITAL 

ACQUIRED  KNOWLEDGE 

AND  INSTITUTIONS 

WHICH  ARE 

CONVERTED 

INTO 


WANT- 
GRATIFYING 
GOODS 

There  is  at  least  one  rather  gratifying  fact  about  this  view 
of  society's  activities;    it  is  applicable  at  any  time  from  the 


36  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

beginning  until  the  present.  Whether  one  thinks  of  society  in 
the  Garden  of  Eden,  at  the  time  of  Abraham,  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  on  a  colonial  farm,  or  at  the  present  time,  the  situation  is 
the  same.  Society  always  has  been  and  always  will  be  con- 
cerned with  the  task  which  has  been  suggested.  Social  resources 
exist  and  wants  exist.  Social  effort  is  to  change  the  social 
resources  into  the  goods  which  gratify  wants. 

But  the  supply  of  any  one  kind  of  social  resource  or  the 
particular  character  of  that  kind  has  by  no  means  been  the 
same  continuously.  If  we  think  of  the  time  when  American 
Indians  occupied  the  North  American  continent,  we  might  be 
justified  in  saying  that  their  natural  resources  were  more  exten- 
sive than  ours.  The  supply  of  labor  power  was  much  smaller. 
Capital  was  almost  negligible,  and  acquired  knowledge  and 
institutions  were  likewise  meager.  We  should  observe,  too, 
that  at  any  given  time  and  for  any  social  group  the  supply  of 
resources  has  definite  limitations.  Although,  compared  with 
earlier  ages,  we  have  a  vast  supply  of  capital,  we  have  not  so 
much  as  we  might  wish.  We  have  unlocked  great  stores  of 
natural  resources,  but  no  argument  is  needed  to  prove  that  we 
should  be  grateful  if  more  of  these  were  available.  So  also 
our  other  types  of  social  resources  are  limited  at  any  one  time. 

Since  any  social  group  is,  then,  confronted  with  the  task  of 
securing  whatever  it  can  secure  of  want-gratifying  goods  from 
a  limited  amount  of  social  resources,  we  may  face  the  task  of  how 
the  work  shall  be  done.  This  is  equivalent  to  saying  that 
some  form  of  organization,  an  economic  system,  must  be  devised. 
A  simple  explanation  of  some  possible  types  of  economic  organ- 
ization has  been  expressed,  making  use  of  the  notion  that  a 
group  of  people  are  supposedly  shipwrecked  on  some  fertile 
island,  with  no  chance  of  getting  off  for  twenty  years: 

No  one  else  is  living  or  has  ever  lived  on  this  island  and  we  are 
dependent  cm  ourselves.  The  island  is  fertile,  has  good  climate, 
plenty  of  rainfall,  all  sorts  of  natural  resources.  From  the  wreck 
we  have  saved  some  tools  and  utensils.  We  have  a  certain  amount 
of  acquired  knowledge.  Under  such  conditions  how  would  we  under- 
take the  task  of  gratifying  wants  ? 


WHAT  IS  BUSINESS?  37 

There  are,  of  course,  several  ways  in  which  we  might  do  it: 

1.  Each  person  might  go  apart  from  the  others  and  set  about 
the  task  alone.  He  would  attempt  to  find  or  produce  all  of  the  things 
he  wanted  to  eat  and  wear  or  use  in  any  other  way  to  gratify  his 
wants.  If  it  were  done  in  this  way,  no  person  would  be  co-operating 
with  any  of  the  others.  Each  would  be  in  somewhat  the  same  situa- 
tion as  a  family  on  the  frontier — self-dependent  and  self-sufficing. 

2.  On  the  other  hand,  a  council  might  be  called  and  it  might  be 
agreed  that  all  should  co-operate  in  producing  economic  goods.  The 
form  of  co-operation  might  be  such  that  all  would  work  at  every  job. 
All  would  work  together  in  himting,  then  in  fishing,  and  then  in 
helping  to  raise  crops. 

3.  A  different  form  of  co-operation  might  be  decided  upon.  A 
central  committee  might  be  appointed  to  determine  what  specialized 
work  each  one  should  do.  This  committee  might  have  power  to 
require  certain  ones  to  fish,  others  to  hunt,  others  to  work  in  the 
fields.  All  the  finished  products  might  be  turned  into  a  common 
fund  or  reservoir.  A  common  dining-room  might  take  care  of  the 
wants  of  all  for  food.  Clothes  might  be  distributed  from  the  central 
storehouse.  The  governing  committee  would  be  required  to  be  care- 
ful to  have  enough  on  hand  to  supply  the  necessities  before  luxuries 
were  considered.  Such  a  community  would  be  called  a  commimistic 
society.  It  would  be  very  much  Uke  the  one  which  was  used  at  one 
time  by  the  colonists  who  settled  in  Virginia.  All  of  the  activities 
of  the  members  of  the  colony  were  under  the  control  of  authorities. 
Whatever  the  settlers  produced  went  to  the  common  stock,  while 
they  were  fed  and  clothed  from  the  company's  store  house. 

4.  A  fourth  plan  might  be  to  allow  each  person  to  produce 
anything  he  thought  was  needed  and  to  trade  or  barter  with  the 
others  for  things  which  they  had  produced.  Under  such  an  arrange- 
ment, the  person  who  fished  might  barter  fish  for  game,  the  hunter 
might  barter  game  for  fish  and  grain,  while  the  ones  who  had  raised 
crops  would  be  anxious  to  exchange  their  crops  for  meat  and  fish. 
Would  not  such  a  plan  be  somewhat  h'ke  the  one  we  use  at  present  ? 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  possible  forms  or  methods  of  economic 
organization.  No  matter  what  form  may  be  in  use,  the  situation 
may  be  illustrated  by  the  diagram  shown  at  top  of  next  page. 

The  economic  organization  or  economic  system  which  is  used  in 
our  society  today  might  be  very  sensibly  spoken  of  as  our  want- 
gratifying  machine.    If  we  tried  to  name  its  parts,  we  should  no 


38 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


doubt  think  of  laws,  banks,  factories,  labor  unions,  contracts,  schools, 
transportation  systems,  private  property,  competition,  employers' 


SOCIAL  RESOURCES 

1.  NATURAL  RESOURCES 

2.  LABOR  POWER 

3.  CAPITAL 

4.  ACQUIRED  KNOWLEDGE 


•ARE 
BROUGHT 

ECONOMIC 

TOGETHER     ~ 
IN 

ORGANIZATION 

AND  WE  AC- 
QUIRE. TO 
APPLY  TO 

OUR  WANTS 


ECONOMIC  GOODS 
I   WEALTH 
2.  SERVICES 


associations,  chambers  of  commerce,  specialization,  insurance  com- 
panies, inheritance,  wages,  interest,  profits,  and  many  other 
institutions.^ 

We  have  seen  then  that  the  economic  organization,  the 
method  of  turning  social  resources  into  want-gratifying  goods, 
may  be  one  of  a  number  of  different  kinds.  For  our  purposes, 
we  must  see  that  our  existing  organization  is  not  the  first  or 
the  second  or  the  third  suggested  in  the  quotation  above.  It  is 
not  one  which  can  be  called  socialistic,  nor  one  of  individual  self- 
sufficiency.  It  is  one  which  has  certain  peculiar  characteristics. 
Some  of  these  are  so  different  from  what  have  preceded  that  they 
have  led  us  to  give  it  a  name,  and  that  name  is  Business.  We 
might  then  in  the  diagram  just  above  substitute  for  the  phrase 
"Economic Organization"  the  word  Business  or,  perhaps  better, 
label  our  particular  kind  of  economic  organization  Business.^ 
It  thus  becomes  apparent  that  business  is  that  scheme  of  eco- 
nomic organization  which  is  at  present  largely  responsible  for 
gratifying  human  wants.  Business  is  that  system  of  economic 
organization  to  which  in  great  measure  we  have  intrusted  the 
all-important  social  task  of  utilizing  our  social  resources,  to 
secure  for  society  whatever  society  secures.  While  it  is  an 
exaggeration  to  state  that  business  occupies  all  economic 
activities  (for  some  portion  of  it  is  in  the  hands  of  government 
and  other  non-business  schemes  of  organization),  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  so  far  as  most  of  our  wants  are  concerned, 

^Adapted  by  permission  from  Marshall  and  Lyon,  Our  Economic 
Organization,  pp.  17-19.    Macmillan  Co. ,  1 9  2 1 . 

2  This  statement  must  be  taken  in  a  general  sense  here.  A  more 
detailed  explanation,  as  well  as  certain  modifications  of  the  statement, 
appears  in  the  chapters  that  follow. 


WHAT  IS  BUSINESS?  39 

their  gratification  depends  very  largely  upon  the  efficiency  of 
business.  Business,  thus,  as  society  is  now  arranged,  is  as  socially 
significant  as  want-gratification.  And  since  want-gratification 
is  concerned,  not  only  with  those  many  wants  which  enrich  the 
standard  of  living,  but  with  those  which  are  concerned  with  the 
existence  of  life  itself,  the  function  of  business,  in  the  present 
order,  is  vital. 

Such  being  the  case,  it  is  not  too  early  to  observe  that  in 
approaching  a  study  of  education  for  business  we  are  approach- 
ing something  larger  than  the  routine  of  the  office  or  the  higgling 
of  the  market.  We  are  concerned  with  an  activity  than  which 
there  are  few  more  fundamental  and  far-reaching  in  our 
civilization. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  The  introduction  to  Chapter  III  proposes  the  examination  of  certain 
evidences  tending  to  show  the  proper  objectives  of  education  for 
business.  Just  what  is  this  evidence  ?  Do  you  think  the  evidence 
proposed  is  pertinent  and  relevant  ? 

2.  Is  the  evidence  proposed  adequate?  Can  you  suggest  other 
evidence  which  you  think  would  be  useful  in  indicating  the  proper 
objectives  of  education  for  business  ? 

3.  The  fact  of  wants  and  the  fact  of  social  resources  are  basic  in  a 
study  of  business.     Explain  this  statement. 

4.  What  t3T)es  of  social  resources  has  society  at  its  command?  Be 
pr^ared  to  define  each  type. 

5.  Have  human  wants  existed  as  long  as  human  beings  ?  Were  social 
resources  in  existence  a  thousand  years  ago  ?  ten  thousand  years 
ago  ?  Has  the  same  amount  of  each  type  of  social  resource  always 
been  in  existence  as  exists  now?  What  forms  of  social  resources 
seem  to  you  to  have  increased  most  rapidly  in  the  past  fifty  years  ? 
Have  any  forms  decreased  ? 

6.  Society's  supply  of  social  resources  is  like  the  family  cupboard. 
It  is  the  source  from  which  all  want-gratifying  goods  must  be 
drawn.  Unfortunately,  the  supply  of  social  resources  at  any  given 
time  is  limited.  Is  this  statement  true?  Can  the  supply  be 
increased  ?     If  so,  how  ? 

7.  Ever  since  people  have  lived  upon  the  earth  it  has  been  necessary 
to  have  some  form  of  economic  organization.    Explain.    What  is 


40  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

the  general  task  of  our  economic  organization  ?  In  what  ways  was 
the  economic  organization  of  the  American  Indians  different  from 
ours  ?  In  what  ways  was  the  economic  organization  of  the  Virginia 
colonists  different  from  ours  ? 

8.  When  a  man  or  boy  hunts  for  a  job,  is  he  trying  to  find  his  place 
in  the  economic  organization  ? 

9.  All  persons  who  are  engaged  in  economic  activity  are  trying  to 
make  a  living.  Are  all  these  persons  playing  a  part .  in  our 
economic  organization  ?  Are  they  all  in  business  ?  Is  the  farmer 
in  business  ?  the  teacher  ?  the  actor  ?  the  doctor  ?  the  banker  ?  the 
author  ?  the  preacher  ? 


CHAPTER  IV 

INDIVIDUAL   ENTERPRISE  AND   THE   SPECIALIZA- 
TION OF  BUSINESS  UNITS 

The  conclusion  that  business  is  the  great  social  project  of 
utilizing  social  resources  to  gratify  human  wants,  though  perhaps 
suggestive  and  stimulating,  is  not  a  sufficiently  detailed  notion 
to  give  the  most  aid  in  determining  how  to  educate  for  business. 
We  must  examine  in  more  detail  some  of  the  characteristics  of 
business. 

It  has  been  suggested  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  our 
modem  economic  organization  is  one  in  which  the  responsibihty 
of  organization  is  thrown  upon  the  individual.  The  social 
resources  upon  which  our  social  group  is  dependent  are  not 
used  for  the  most  part  by  social  action.  Individuals  are  per- 
mitted to  take  these  social  resources  and  to  attempt  to  convert 
them  into  want-gratifying  goods.  In  large  part  they  attempt 
to  use  social  resources  in  the  way  that  they  believe  will  prove 
most  profitable.  It  is  this  characteristic  of  freedom  of  indi- 
vidual enterprise,  of  individuals  attempting  to  gratify  human 
wants  at  a  profit  to  themselves,  that  is  ordinarily  called  business. 
It  is  thus  seen  that  going  into  business  simply  means  that  an 
individual  sets  himself  up  to  take  part  in  the  social  enterprise 
of  want-gratification.  In  our  modem  system,  then,  there  rests 
upon  the  shoulders  of  business  men  a  great  responsibility — a 
responsibility  to  get  as  much  for  all  of  us  as  it  is  possible  to  get 
from  our  existing  supply  of  social  resources.  But  each  indi- 
vidual business  man  is  interested  not  so  much  in  doing  the  most 
for  society  as  in  doing  the  best  he  can  for  himself.  Therefore 
we  may  think  of  the  situation  as  though  society  had  found  it 
necessary  to  make  use  of  some  device  which  would  compel  the 
individual  enterpriser  to  consider  society's  needs.  The  device 
which  is  in  use  is  competition.  No  one  business  man  is  per- 
mitted to  have  control  of  all  social  resources.    Anyone  has  some 

41 


42  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

opportunity  to  compete  in  gratifying  wants.  What  society 
secures  from  its  supply  of  social  materials  depends  upon  the 
intelligence  and  efficiency  of  business  management  and  the 
reality  of  the  competition  among  individual  business  enterprises. 

Competition,  to  give  us  the  best,  must  be  both  real  and 
intelligent.  Five  men  may  run  a  hundred-yard  dash.  Some- 
one is  sure  to  win,  even  though  the  fastest  of  the  lot  may  run 
with  the  assistance  of  crutches.  This  will  be  competition,  but 
there  will  be  little  quality  in  it.  So  it  is  with  the  competition 
of  business.  Someone,  under  our  system  of  permitting  anyone 
to  try,  is  sure  to  succeed,  and  the  fact  that  we  see  him  succeed 
may  easily  lead  us  to  think  of  him  as  efficient.  Success  and  effi- 
ciency, if  one  is  thinking  of  efficiency  in  some  absolute  sense, 
are  not  at  all  identical.  Success  merely  means  that  one  has 
proved  himself  superior  to  his  competitors,  but  if  his  competitors 
are  more  or  less  lame,  halt,  and  blind  in  a  business  way,  the 
winner  himseM  may  be  much  less  efficient  in  his  use  of  social 
resources  than  society  might  wish.  It  is  the  need  of  society, 
then,  not  only  to  permit  competition  to  be  as  unrestricted  as 
possible,  but  to  give  it  as  much  quality  as  possible.  Both  of 
these  considerations  make  demands  upon  business  education. 
They  demand  that  there  shall  be  many  competitors  in  the 
business  race  and  that  each  of  these  shall  be  as  well  trained  as 
possible. 

But  in  considering  these  demands  it  is  well  to  have  in  mind 
the  extent  to  which  business  education  gives  opportunity  to 
compete.  Some  persons  who  are  bom  the  sons  of  men  connected 
with  large  busiuess  houses  can  obtain  much  of  a  managerial 
viewpoint  and  a  managerial  education  merely  from  association. 
Others  must  rely  entirely  upon  what  the  schools  (meaning  no 
particular  type  of  school)  may  offer.  And  what  the  schools 
must  offer  if  they  are  to  give  society  the  desirable  supply  of 
high-quality  competitors  is  education  for  management.  It  must 
be  education  which  fits  individuals  to  go  into  business;  it  must 
be  education  which  enables  young  persons  to  assume,  with  real 
hope  of  success,  control  of  social  resources  with  the  purpose 
of  converting  them  into  want-gratifying  goods. 


INDIVIDUAL  ENTERPRISE  AND  SPECIALIZATION        43 

Closely  related  to  individual  enterprise  as  a  characteristic 
of  modern  business  is  a  second  characteristic  which  we  may 
call  the  specialization  of  business  units.  There  is  also  a  special- 
ization within  business  units  to  which  we  must  later  give  atten- 
tion, but  this  must  not  be  confused  with  the  specialization  of 
business  units  and  what  it  suggests  in  education  for  business. 
This  we  shall  now  consider. 

To  understand  the  significance  of  specialization  and  appre- 
ciate the  probable  permanence  of  its  character,  it  is  necessary 
to  see  that  it  is  a  method  of  production.  Desirous  of  producing 
goods  which  gratify  wants,  society,  quite  without  realizing  it, 
has  hit  upon  the  device  of  specialization.  As  Clay,  the  English 
economist,  says,  "Specialization  is  fundamental  in  economic 
organization  because  it  is  the  means  by  which  man  increases  the 
return  to  a  given  amount  of  work.  It  brings  about  this  result 
in  two  ways:  by  subdivision  of  tasks  and  by  repetition  of  tasks. 
Subdivision  results  in  operations  easier  in  themselves,  repetition 
enables  operations  to  be  performed  with  greater  ease." 

The  specialization  of  business  units,  which  is  our  considera- 
tion here,  has  been,  perhaps,  less  emphasized  than  the  specializa- 
tion within  business  units.  Such  specialization  arises  rather 
from  the  subdivision  of  processes  than  from  the  subdivision  of 
tasks.  There  are  special  business  units  that  carry  on  specialized 
parts  in  the  creation  of  every  kind  of  goods  or  services  of  which 
one  can  think.  Farms  and  ranches  do  not  supply  us  with  food, 
but  are  merely  specialized  parts  of  a  long  process  of  food- 
supplying.  Automobile  factories  do  not  furnish  us  with  auto- 
mobiles, but  are  one  specialized  unit  in  a  long  series  of  units, 
which  together  furnish  us  with  those  vehicles.  Mines,  railroads, 
sawmills,  churches,  offices,  schools,  and  theaters  are  all  separate 
units  specializing  in  special  tasks  and  each  contributing  to  the 
production  of  many  types  of  want-gratifying  goods. 

The  specialization  of  business  units  which  furnishes  us  with 
such  a  commodity  as  the  breakfast  egg  has  been  thus  described: 

A  useful  way  of  seeing  the  advantage  of  specialization  of  economic 
units  is  to  follow  through  the  work  that  must  be  done  in  bringing 
us  some  such  product  of  daily  consiunption  as  eggs.    We  shall  see 


44  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

that  the  egg  on  our  breakfast  table  is  the  result  of  the  specialized 
services  of  a  great  many  economic  units.  The  farmer  whose  poultry- 
yard  has  furnished  him  with  eggs  could  sell  these  in  a  number  of  ways. 
He  might  send  them  directly  to  consumers  in  the  cities,  but  ordinarily 
he  does  not  know  just  who  wants  eggs  at  any  particular  time  or 
does  he  know  how  many  could  be  used  by  any  household  and  what 
price  it  would  be  willing  to  pay.  Before  he  could-  sell  eggs  in  this 
direct  "producer  to  consumer"  fashion,  it  would  also  be  necessary 
for  him  to  grade  the  eggs  very  carefully  so  that  there  could  be  no 
dissatisfaction  on  the  part  of  the  purchasers,  to  pack  them  for  ship- 
ment, and  to  arrange  for  the  collection  of  money  due  him.  Instead 
of  selling  his  eggs  this  way,  a  more  common  method  is  to  take  them  to 
a  neighboring  country  town  and  dispose  of  them  to  the  storekeeper. 
A  village  storekeeper  thus  acts  as  a  first  centralizing  depot  where 
the  eggs  from  the  entire  neighborhood  are  collected.  In  some  cases 
the  storekeeper  runs  the  eggs  over  his  "candling  machine"  and 
discards  those  that  are  spoiled.  If  he  does  this,  he  is  performing  a 
second  task,  that  of  grading,  which  must  be  done  before  people  in 
the  cities  care  to  purchase  eggs. 

The  storekeeper  in  the  country  town  is  in  hardly  a  better  position 
to  sell  eggs  directly  to  the  consumers  in  the  cities  than  was  the  farmer. 
No  more  than  the  farmer  does  he  know  how  many  eggs  are  desired 
by  any  particular  family  nor  just  what  families  wish  such  goods.  In 
other  words,  he  has  no  "market  connections"  with  consumers  in  the 
city.  He  might,  of  course,  make  such  market  connections,  but  experi- 
ence has  shown  him  that  it  is  simpler  to  pass  the  eggs  on,  a  large 
quantity  at  a  time,  to  someone  in  the  city,  and  let  him  perform  this 
function  of  finding  consumers. 

In  the  height  of  the  egg-laying  season,  the  storekeeper  of  a  fairly 
large  town  may  collect  a  half  carload  or  even  a  carload  of  eggs  in  the 
period  of  a  week.  He  now  ships  these  to  a  buyer  of  eggs  in  quantity 
in  the  city.  Such  a  quantity  buyer  is  sometimes  called  a  "wholesale 
receiver"  or  "large  dealer"  or  "centralizer."  The  wholesaler  usually 
grades  the  eggs  carefully  into  "selects,"  "seconds,"  "spots,"  and 
other  classes  according  to  their  quality.  This  wholesaler,  like  those 
who  have  handled  the  eggs  ahead  of  him,  might  possibly  sell  them 
directly  to  consumers.  But  he  is  hardly  in  a  position  to  know  the 
wishes  of  all  the  people  in  every  locality  of  a  city  (and  he  is  very  busy 
with  these  other  tasks).  As  we  might  expect,  therefore,  still  other 
specialized  middlemen  come  in  to  take  care  of  this  function.    The 


INDIVIDUAL  ENTERPRISE  AND  SPECIALIZATION        45 

centralizer  or  large  dealer  could  sell  to  the  grocery  stores,  the  hotelx 
and  restaurants,  and  the  bakers  which  are  the  principal  channeli 
through  which  eggs  pass  to  consumers.  But  even  of  these  there  are 
so  many  in  a  city  of  any  size  that  it  is  difficult  for  him  to  keep  in  touch 
with  all  of  them  and  know  the  market  needs  and  desires  of  each.  In 
some  cases  he  does  sell  directly  to  these  buyers.  In  other  cases,  he 
relies  on  men  called  "jobbers"  to  keep  in  constant  touch  with  the 


CO-OPERATING  SPECIALIZED  BUSINESS  UNITS  IN 
EGG  PRODUCTION 


FARMER 


VILLAGE 
STOREKEEPER 


WHOLESALER 

OR 
CENTRALIZER 


COLD-STORAGE 
WAREHOUSE 


BAKERIES 


HOTELS, 
RESTAURANTS.  ETCJ 


GROCER 


[CONSUMER 


needs  of  all  the  bakers,  grocers,  hotels,  restaurants,  and  other  retail 
outlets  and  to  sell  them  the  number  and  quaUty  of  eggs  demanded. 

The  jobbers  who  find  a  market  for  the  eggs  received  by  the 
wholesaler  are  not  the  only  persons  to  whom  the  stock  might  be 
disposed  of.  Eggs  are  laid  in  largest  numbers  during  the  months  of 
March,  April,  May,  and  June.  The  supply  which  pours  into  the 
cities  during  the  "laying  months"  must,  if  we  are  to  be  provided 
during  the  winter,  be  so  conserved  as  to  last  throughout  the  year. 
Therefore,  certain  individuals  who  believe  it  will  be  profitable  to 
store  and  preserve  eggs  purchase  them  from  the  wholesale  receiver 


46 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


and  place  them  in  cold  storage  warehouses.  Here  they  are  kept  until 
winter,  when,  during  the  scarce  season,  they  are  sold,  usually  through 
the  jobbers,  to  the  bakers,  grocers,  hotels,  and  restaurants. 

We  must  not  imagine  that  there  are  never  any  variations  in  this 
line  of  specialists.  Sometimes  eggs  are  shipped  directly  from  farms 
to  city  residences;  sometimes  other  middlemen  than  those  we  have 
mentioned  take  part  in  the  work  of  marketing  eggs.^ 

Such  series  of  specialists  are  not,  of  course,  confined  to 
production  of  farm  products.  Cloth  which  has  been  produced 
by  a  textile  mill  is  of  no  more  importance  to  most  of  us  than 
if  it  had  not  been  made  at  all.    A  hat,  a  fountain  pen,  a  watch, 


CO-OPERATIVE  SPECIALIZED  PRODUCERS  IN  SOME 
COMMON  COMMODITIES 


STOVES.  FURNITURE, 
SHOES.  SUITS 


NAILS,  KNIVES. 

KEYS.  DISHES, 

TOOLS 

CANNED  CORN,  PEAS, 
TOMATOES.  AND 

salmon 

1  manufacturer! 

Jcanner! 

■ 

^ 

1  broker ! 

1  wholesaler! 

^wholesaler! 

1  retailer] 

1  retailer  ! 

" 

!CONS 

UMER  1 

JCONS 

umer| 

or  a  book  must  have  much  of  production  added  to  it  by  a  series 
of  specialized  business  units  after  it  leaves  the  factory  which 
has  given  it  a  desired  form.  The  series  of  specialized  business 
units  which  co-operate  in  the  production  of  some  common  t)^es 
of  goods  may  be  shown  diagrammatically. 

Diagrams  will  show  that  it  is  not  only  in  the  creation  of 
tangible,  material  goods  that  specialization  of  business  units 
is  used.  Specialized  business  units  are  quite  as  useful  in  making 
available  services  which  gratify  human  wants. 

These  diagrams  tell  at  best  only  part  of  the  story  of  special- 
ization of  business  units.    There  is  not  only  a  line  of  consecutive 

^Adapted  by  permission  from  Marshall  and  Lyon,  Our  Economic 
Organization,  pp.  129-31.    Macmillan  Co.,  1921. 


INDIVIDUAL  ENTERPRISE  AND  SPECIALIZATION        47 


specialized  business  units  in  each  of  the  operations  indicated, 
but  each  one  of  these  speciaHzed  units  is  related  to  a  number  of 
other  specialized  agencies.    Thus,  for  example,  we  have  the 

SPECIALIZED  PRODUCTION  OF  CERTAIN  SERVICES* 


SERVICES  OF  A  SHORT- 
STORY  WRITER 

I  LITERARY  AGENCY  I 

I 

I  MAGAZINE  PUBLISHER  I 


{NEWS  agency) 


MAGAZINE  DEALER 


MAGAZINE  READER 


SERVICES  OF  A 
MECHANIC 


EMPLOYMENT 
AGENCY 


MANUFAaURER  OF 
HARDWARE 


JOBBER  OF 
HARDWARE 


I  RETAILER  I 

ZTI. 


CONSUMER  OF 
HARDWARE 


SERVICES  OF  A  MOVING- 
PICTURE  AQOR 


1 

FILM-MANUFACTURING 
COMPANY 

HLM-EXCHANGE 
COMPANY 

1 

I 

LOCAL  THEATER  j 

[patron  of  THEATER  | 

CO-OPERATING  SPECIALIZED  BUSINESS  UNITS  IN 
WHEAT-FLOUR  PRODUCTION^ 


WHEAT  GROWER 


LOCAL  ELEVATOR 


I  TERMINAL  WAREHOUSES 


MILLER  (WHO  TURNS  THE 
WHEAT  INTO  FLOUR) 


I  GROCERS  AND  BAKERIES 


CONSUMERS 


local  elevators  and  the  terminal  warehouses,  both  of  which  are 
specialists  in  the  production  of  bread.  Each  of  these  makes 
use  of  specialized  transportation  agencies;  each  relies  on  banks 
to  furnish  it  with  funds,  thus  calling  in  the  aid  of  other  special- 


^Op.  ciL,  p.  134. 


'Ibid.,  pp.  132-33. 


48  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

ists;  each  calls  upon  insurance  companies  and  the  hedging 
markets  of  the  organized  grain  exchanges  to  aid  it  in  carrying 
the  risks  which  are  incident  to  ownership;  each  of  these  con- 
cerns also,  when  it  wishes  to  dispose  of  the  grain,  will  in  all 
probability  call  upon  a  commission  merchant — a  specialized 
selling  agent — to  help  in  making  the  best  possible  sale. 


SOURCES  OF  SUPPLY  SUCH  AS 


MARKETING  INSTTTUTIONS  SUCH  AS 
ORGANIZED  EXCHANGES 


DEALERS 
GROWERS.  STORERS.  OR  «'TO    I  or  I    T0-»  ADVERTISING  AGENCIES 

OTHER  MANUFACTURERS.  ETC  \  .......  ,^.^^.,„^„  I  ADVERTISING  MEDIUMS 

BROKERS 

FORWARDERS 

ETC 


Not  only  are  these  specialized  business  units  of  constant 
service,  but  the  government  and  perhaps  private  agencies  as 
well  are  specializing  in  giving  protection  from  theft  or  violence, 
while  a  score  of  agencies  are  gathering  information  about 
crops,  demand,  and  prices,  all  of  which  are  of  the  greatest  use 
in  the  production  of  bread. 


INDIVIDUAL  ENTERPRISE  AND  SPECIALIZATION        49 

If  we  should  give  our  attention  to  almost  any  of  the  other 
specialized  units  in  the  production  of  any  type  of  goods,  we 
should  find  the  case  much  the  same.  Whether  it  is  the  manu- 
facturer of  groceries,  the  wholesaler  of  hardware,  or  the  retailer 
of  shoes,  we  should  find  him  dependent  upon  a  great  variety  of 
other  specialists — specialists  from  whom  he  bought,  specialists 
to  whom  he  sells,  specialists  who  aid  him  in  one  phase  or  another 
of  his  activities. 

The  significance  to  education  for  business  of  this  specializa- 
tion of  business  units  is  not  far  to  see.  Operating  a  business 
appears  from  this  view  not  to  be  operating  a  series  of  activities 
confined  by  the  four  walls  of  a  unit.  Operating  a  business  is 
rather  making  an  adjustment — an  adjustment  of  one  specialized 
unit  to  the  activities  of  a  great  number  of  other  specialized 
units.  The  degree  of  success  which  accompanies  a  business 
enterprise  depends  upon  the  skill  with  which  such  an  adjust- 
ment is  made. 

A  study  of  business,  therefore,  at  least  a  study  of  business 
which  is  to  give  any  consideration  to  the  managerial  aspects  of 
business,  must  include  a  study  of  relationships.  Since  the 
relationships  of  which  any  individual  business  unit  is  one  part 
are  almost  without  number,  and  extend  in  bewildering  fashion 
in  each  direction,  an  overextensive  knowledge  of  relationships  is 
impossible.  Anything  approaching  an  adequate  knowledge  of 
relationships  is  difficult  and  demands,  of  those  who  are 
interested  in  understanding  business,  a  study  of  the  make-up 
and  structure  of  society  much  more  far-reaching  than  any- 
thing which  has  been  customary  in  most  so-called  business 
courses. 

At  first  blush  it  will  seem  to  many  of  those  who  are  most 
interested  in  business  education,  and  especially  to  those  who 
from  long  acquaintance  with  business  education  have  come  to 
think  of  the  task  as  a  training  in  technique  alone,  that  it  is 
beside  the  point  to  suggest  a  broad  training  in  relationships. 
The  fact  of  specialization  of  business  units,  however,  carries 
with  it  one  great  implication:  there  is  no  training  fora  managerial 
point  of  view  excepting  a  training  in  relationships. 


so  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

But  why  train  for  a  managerial  point  of  view?  If  there 
are  some  whose  long  familiarity  with  the  customary  commercial 
courses  makes  them  feel  such  a  purpose  to  be  undesirable,  let 
them  consider  that  even  the  commercial  student  is  entitled  to 
an  opportunity  to  seek  success  in  business.  And  although 
there  are  many  who  may  not  wish  to  direct  businesses  of  their 
own,  or  who  may  never  have  the  financial  opportunity  to  do  so, 
it  is  worth  while  to  remember  that  promotion  within  a  business 
depends  largely  upon  one's  ability  to  aid  the  management. 
Any  notion  of  how  to  aid  the  management,  and  any  success  in 
so  doing,  depends  entirely  upon  an  appreciation  of  managerial 
problems.  It  should  also  be  realized  that  it  is  only  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  specialized  character  of  business  units  that 
a  student  who  is  preparing  to  enter  business  has  any  real 
basis  for  a  vocational  choice.  It  is  from  such  a  knowledge  that 
he  sees  what  businesses  really  do,  and  from  such  a  knowledge 
he  may  be  able  to  direct  himseK  to  that  type  of  specialization 
for  which  he  is  best  fitted. 

Finally,  we  must  recall  the  thought  expressed  in  the  open- 
ing haK  of  the  chapter,  that  society  needs,  if  it  is  to  get  the  most 
from  its  resources,  well-trained  competitors.  A  large  number 
of  such  competitors  is  possible  only  if  students  are  trained  for 
the  management  of  business.  In  any  society,  therefore,  in 
which  individual  enterprise  and  specialization  of  business  units 
are  underlying  facts,  education  for  business  which  neglects  a 
broad  instruction  in  the  relationships  to  which  every  business 
must  adjust  itself  belies  its  name,  and  is,  at  best,  education  for 
business  in  an  incomplete,  narrow,  and  partial  sense. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Specialization  is  said  to  be  a  method  of  production;  a  method 
of  converting  social  resources  into  want-gratifying  goods.  Can 
you  think  of  it  in  this  way  ?  Can  you  think  of  any  methods,  other 
than  specialization,  which  we  use  ? 

2.  It  has  been  said  that  a  society,  no  matter  how  it  is  organized, 
must  necessarily  carry  on  production;  it  must  convert  its  social 
resources  into  want-gratifying  goods.    It  is  only  the  methods  of 


INDIVIDUAL  ENTERPRISE  AND  SPECIALIZATION        51 

production  which  differ.  If  this  statement  seems  to  you  true, 
give  illustrations  of  methods  of  production  formerly  used  by 
society  which  are  in  contrast  to  the  methods  we  use. 

3.  In  modern  society  who  decides  what  specialized  part  each  person 
shall  play  ?  Can  you  imagine  a  society  in  which  some  authorita- 
tive head  assigned  each  worker  to  his  speciahzed  task  ? 

4.  Is  there  speciah'zation  in  an  army  unit  ?  Is  the  specialization  a 
matter  of  free  choice,  of  individual  enterprise,  or  is  it  a  specializa- 
tion by  authority  ? 

5.  When  boys  or  girls  decide  upon  an  occupation,  are  they  deter- 
mining a  specialized  task  which  they  shall  perform  in  society's 
work  of  production  ?  If  an  adult  shifts  from  one  type  of  work 
to  another,  is  he  redirecting  his  speciahzed  effort  ? 

6.  Make  a  list  of  the  forces  which  you  think  influence  a  person  in 
deciding  v/hat  specialized  work  he  shall  undertake.  How  strong 
do  you  think  is  the  motive  of  pay  or  pecimiary  reward  ? 

7.  Society  makes  use  of  specialization  and  reUes  upon  the  hope  of 
gain  to  guide  the  speciahsts  into  those  tasks  where  they  will  be 
most  useful.  Does  this  seem  to  you  a  statement  which  is  in 
general  true  ?  What  are  some  of  the  factors  which  might  make 
a  person  take  a  job  in  which  he  could  earn  more,  but  in  which 
you  think  he  would  be  less  useful  to  society  than  in  some  other 
occupation  ? 

8.  When  a  man  goes  into  business,  is  it  desirable  from  society's 
point  of  view  that  he  shall  be  efficient  in  the  work  which  he 
imdertakes  ? 

9.  "If  business  men  are  efficient,  it  may  result  in  more  gain  for  those 
individuals,  but  there  is  no  assurance  that  there  will  be  any  gain 
for  society  through  their  increased  skill."  Does  this  seem  to 
you  true  ?    Why,  or  why  not  ? 

10.  What  devices  does  society  use  to  attempt  to  secure  for  every- 
one the  increased  production  resulting  from  increased  efficiency  ? 

11.  "Competition  to  give  the  best  results  must  be  both  real  and 
intelhgent."  Illustrate  the  meaning  of  this  with  specific  examples 
drawn  from  business. 

12.  Why  is  it  that  sons  of  men  connected  with  large  business  houses 
are  more  likely  to  become  managers  of  large  businesses  than  the 
sons  of  men  who  work  at  trades?  Do  you  think  it  desirable 
that  it  should  be  so  ?  Do  you  think  the  school  has  any  respon- 
sibility in  the  situation  ? 


52  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

13.  What  studies  in  the  commercial  courses  with  which  you  are 
most  familiar  tend  to  train  students  to  understand  the  manage- 
ment of  businesses?  What  proportion  of  the  total  of  these 
courses  do  such  studies  constitute  ? 

14.  Explain  with  illustrations  what  is  meant  by  the  "specialization 
d>/ business  units." 

15.  Are  middlemen  producers  ?    Are  producers  middlemen  ? 

16.  The  bank  is  sometimes  called  a  financial  middleman.  Explain 
what  this  statement  might  mean. 

17.  "If  the  'middleman'  secures  too  much  profit  it  is  because  he  has 
not  enough  competition."  Is  this  true  ?  Is  it  socially  desirable 
that  there  should  be  competition  among  middlemen?  Have 
business  courses  any  responsibihty  in  this  connection  ? 

18.  Operating  a  business  consists  largely  of  making  adjustments- 
Adjustments  of  what?  Are  the  factors  to  which  adjustment 
must  be  made  largely  "within"  the  business  or  "without"  ? 

19.  If  success  in  business  depends  largely  upon  the  skill  with  which 
adjustments  are  made,  what  general  type  of  instruction  should 
be  given  to  students  who  are  preparing  for  business  ? 

20.  Give  an  example  of  the  way  in  which  a  wholesale  grocer  makes 
use  of  financial  institutions,  risk-carrying  agencies,  marketing 
institutions,  government,  transporting  agencies,  information 
agencies,  sources  of  raw  materials.  Do  the  same  for  a  manu- 
facturer of  automobiles. 

21.  Suggest  a  course  which  might  give  a  student  who  was  preparing 
for  business  some  knowledge  of  each  of  the  phases  of  relationship 
in  which  he  will  operate. 

22.  "But  after  all,  not  everyone  can  be  thought  of  as  needing  educa- 
tion in  the  problems  of  business  management.  Most  of  the 
students  in  the  commercial  department  are  predestined  to  routine 
clerical  tasks.  For  them  several  years  of  stenography,  type- 
writing, and  bookkeeping  are  sufficient.  To  talk  of  anything 
else  is  nonsense."     Comment. 

23.  "To  talk  of  any  training  in  the  problems  of  business  management 
for  high  school  commercial  pupils  is  undemocratic.  It  is  an  effort 
to  give  an  education  adapted  to  the  few  rather  than  the  needs 
of  the  many."     Comment. 

24.  Try  to  formulate  a  general  statement  or  statements  which  sum- 
marize the  ideas  and  suggestions  for  business  education  which 
come  to  you  from  a  study  of  Chapter  IV. 


^ 


CHAPTER  V 

SPECIALIZATION  WITHIN  BUSINESS  UNITS 

The  second  form  of  specialization  is  specialization  within 
business  units.  This  is  a  no  less  important  method  in  the 
business  of  producing  want-gratifying  goods  than  the  special- 
ization oj  business  units.  A  realization  of  the  nature  and  extent 
of  this  form  of  specialization  is  quite  as  pregnant  with  sugges- 
tions for  business  education  as  the  form  previously  studied, 
but  the  suggestions  are  of  a  very  different  character.  Before 
drawing  conclusions,  however,  it  is  well  to  be  sure  that  we 
understand  specialization  within  business  units  with  some 
clearness. 

The  classic  expression  of  specialization  within  an  industry 
is  the  oft-quoted  statement  of  Adam  Smith: 

To  take  an  example,  therefore,  from  a  very  trifling  manufacture, 
but  one  in  which  the  division  of  labor  has  been  very  often  taken  notice 
of,  the  trade  of  the  pin-maker;  a  workman  not  educated  to  this 
business  (which  the  division  of  labor  has  rendered  a  distinct  trade), 
nor  acquainted  with  the  use  of  the  machinery  employed  in  it  (to  the 
invention  of  which  the  same  division  of  labor  has  probably  given 
occasion),  could  scarce,  perhaps,  with  his  utmost  industry,  make  one 
pin  in  a  day  and  certainly  could  not  make  twenty.  But  in  the  way 
in  which  this  business  is  now  carried  on,  not  only  the  whole  work  is 
a  peculiar  trade,  but  it  is  divided  into  a  number  of  branches  of  which 
the  greater  part  are  likewise  peculiar  trades.  One  man  draws  out 
the  wire,  another  straights  it,  a  third  cuts  it,  a  fourth  points  it,  a 
fifth  grinds  it  at  the  top  for  receiving  the  head;  to  make  the  head 
requires  two  or  three  distinct  operations;  to  put  it  on  is  a  peculiar 
business,  to  whiten  the  pins  is  another;  it  is  even  a  trade  by  itself  to 
put  them  into  the  paper;  and  the  important  business  of  making  a 
pin  is,  in  this  manner,  divided  into  about  eighteen  distinct  operations, 
which,  in  some  manufactories,  are  all  performed  by  distinct  hands, 
though  in  others  the  same  man  will  sometimes  perform  two  or  three 
of  them.  I  have  seen  a  small  manufactory  of  this  kind  where  ten 
men  only  were  employed,  and  where  some  of  them  consequently 

53 


54  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

performed  two  or  three  distinct  operations.  But  though  they  were 
very  poor,  and  therefore  but  indifferently  accommodated  with  the 
necessary  machinery,  they  could,  when  they  exerted  themselves, 
make  among  them  about  twelve  pounds  of  pins  in  a  day.  There  are 
in  a  pound  upward  of  four  thousand  pins  of  a  middling  size.  Those 
ten  persons,  therefore,  could  make  among  them  upward  of  forty- 
eight  thousand  pins  in  a  day.  Each  person,  therefore,  making  a 
tenth  part  of  forty-eight  thousand  pins,  might  be  considered  as 
making  four  thousand  eight  himdred  pins  in  a  day.  But  if  they 
had  all  wrought  separately  and  independently,  and  without  any  of 
them  having  been  educated  to  this  peculiar  business,  they  certainly 
could  not  each  of  them  have  made  twenty,  perhaps  not  one  pin  in  a 
day;  that  is,  certainly,  not  the  two  himdred  and  fortieth,  perhaps  not 
the  four  thousand  eight  hundredth  part  of  what  they  are  at  present 
capable  of  performing,  in  consequence  of  a  proper  division  and  com- 
bination of  their  different  operations.^ 

But  what  seemed  to  Adam  Smith  as  the  marvelous  special- 
ization of  his  day  appears  elementary  in  our  time.  More  and 
more  have  jobs  been  divided.  This  division  in  manufacturing 
is  thus  illustrated  in  shoemaking: 

In  the  cutting-room  the  parts  which  form  the  upper  are  cut  out. 
For  the  best  goods  this  is  done  with  a  hand  knife.  For  the  less 
expensive  classes  of  leather,  and  for  linings  and  gussets — which  are 
usually  cut  from  cloth — a  die  is  used.  The  die-cutters  are  also  block- 
hands,  dinkers,  and  clickers.  A  skiver  works  in  the  fitting-  or 
stitching-room,  and  skives  or  cuts  to  a  bevel  in  a  skiving  machine  the 
edges  of  the  pieces  for  the  uppers.  Cementers  or  pasters  put  cement 
on  the  skived  surfaces  which  folders  fold  over  and  stick  together  by 
pressure  either  in  a  machine  or  by  hand,  thus  producing  a  finished 
instead  of  a  raw  edge.  Upper-stitchers  include  all  workers  on  sewing- 
machines  in  the  fitting-room,  whether  on  leather  or  linings.  An 
eyelet-row  stitcher  puts  stitching  on  the  quarter,  just  outside  the 
place  where  the  row  of  hooks  and  eyelets  wiU  be.  A  closer  stitches 
or  closes  the  quarters  together  at  the  back,  and  a  seam-rubber  or 
seam-pounder  smooths  this  seam  by  rubbing  or  pressing  it  out  as 
flat  as  possible  on  a  machine.  A  gore-  or  gusset-stitcher  stitches  in 
gores  or  gussets  such  as  appear  in  congress  boots.  A  lining-stitcher, 
lining-maker,  or  liner  sews  together  the  different  pieces  of  the  lining, 

'  From  Adam  Smith,  The  Wealth  of  Nations,  Book  I,  chap.  i. 


SPECIALIZATION  WITHIN  BUSINESS  UNITS  55 

and  a  closer-on  or  in-seamer  stitches  the  lining  into  the  quarters. 
When  the  vamps  are  Hned  separately  a  vamp-liner  does  the  work. 
On  fine  work  a  lacing-stitcher  binds  the  lining  with  a  facing  of  leather. 
A  header  operates  a  machine  of  the  same  name  which  presses  together 
the  seam  made  around  the  top  of  the  quarters  by  closing  on.  A 
top-stitcher  or  corder  runs  stitching  around  the  quarters  just  below 
this  seam,  through  the  quarter  and  lining.  A  buttonhole-machine 
operator  puts  the  quarters  for  button  shoes  through  her  machine, 
which  makes  a  cut,  lays  a  heavy  cord  around  the  edge,  and  stitches 
over  the  cord  and  through  the  edge,  making  a  buttonhole.  The 
buttonhole-finisher's  machine  sews  down  that  part  of  the  heavy 
cord  which  passes  from  buttonhole  to  buttonhole.  The  buttons  are 
sewed  on  by  hand  or  by  machine,  or  are  fastened  on  with  wire  staples. 
A  gang-punch  operator  punches  the  holes  for  eyelets  in  laced  shoes. 
An  eyeleter  or  fastener-setter  sets  in  the  eyelets  with  an  eyeleting 
machine.  A  hooker  puts  in  the  hooks  with  a  hooking  machine. 
A  marker  or  tip-marker  marks  on  the  vamp  the  place  where  the  tip 
is  to  go,  and  a  tipper  or  tip-stitcher  stitches  it  on;  sometimes  a  tip- 
paster  pastes  or  gums  the  tips  onto  the  vamps  before  they  are  stitched. 
A  perforator  perforates  the  edges,  and  a  tip-fixer  glues  down  or  other- 
wise adjusts  them.  A  vamp-closer  stitches  the  two  ends  of  the  vamp 
together  behind.  A  vamper  sews  together  the  quarters  and  vamps. 
A  barrer  or  stayer  stitches  back  and  forth  through  the  edges  of  the 
two  quarters.  A  heel-stay  stitcher  and  an  eyelet-stay  stitcher  put 
on  heel  stays  and  eyelet  stays,  respectively,  after  the  lining  has  been 
closed  on.  A  fancy  stitcher  is  employed  on  some  work  to  do  stitching, 
which  serves  merely  as  decoration.  A  foxing  stitcher  sews  to  the 
back  of  the  vamp  of  some  shoes  a  piece  of  leather  called  a  foxing. 
On  fine  work,  a  tongue-binder  binds  the  edges  of  the  tongues  with 
cloth  or  leather;  the  tongues  are  stitched  into  place  by  tongue- 
stitchers.  A  strap-maker  makes  leather  straps  for  ladies'  slippers, 
or  straps  by  which  shoes  are  pulled  onto  the  foot.  Table  workers 
are  unskilled  operatives  who  do  such  work  as  gumming  or  pasting, 
tip  marking,  and  sewing  on  buttons,  by  hand,  at  tables  in  the 
stitching-room.^ 

The  specialization   in   the  large  meat-packing  plants  was 
once  vividly  impressed  upon  the  writer  by  a  young  Russian 

*  Adapted  from  the   U.S.  Census  Special  Report    on  Employees  and 
Wages,  1903,  pp.  1199-1201. 


56  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Student  who  described  his  first  job  in  America.  "  I  was  taken, " 
said  he,  "into  a  room  where,  on  a  table,  were  a  pile  of  paper 
sheets  and  innumerable  cattle  livers.  My  guide  seized  a  liver 
in  one  hand  and  a  sheet  of  paper  in  the  other  and  wrapped  the 
first  in  the  second.  He  told  me  to  do  the  same.  I  did.  '  Keep 
on  doing  it,'  said  my  instructor.  I  did.  I  was  now  educated 
for  industry.  For  over  a  year  I  stood  at  that  table  and  wrapped 
livers  with  no  notion  of  the  whence,  the  why,  or  the  wherefore. 
But  I  became  an  expert  liver  wrapper." 

Although  specialization  in  manufacturing  has  often  been 
pointed  out,  the  prevalence  of  specializing  in  office  work  has 
been  much  less  realized.  The  specialization  in  some  of  these 
units  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  persons  engaged  in  educa- 
ting for  business.  Office  work  for  example  has  become  highly 
specialized.  The  possibilities  of  such  specialization  may  be 
realized  from  the  following  description  of  differentiations  in 
occupations  in  a  propiinent  metropolitan  bank: 

The  same  division  of  labor  exists  in  a  bank,  to  be  reckoned, 
however,  by  departments  rather  than  individual  "jobs." 

For  instance,  John  Smith  &  Co.,  a  prosperous  concern,  is 
approached  by  the  New  Business  Department,  and  its  account 
solicited.  The  company  agrees  to  open  an  account,  and  makes  an 
initial  deposit  of  cash  and  checks.  Taken  in  by  the  Receiving  Teller, 
the  credit  is  charged  through  to  the  City  Books  Department,  where 
it  is  entered  on  the  books  by  one  of  a  large  force  of  bookkeepers.  The 
checks  are  separated  by  the  teller,  and  those  on  local  banks  are 
charged  to,  and  handled  by,  the  Clearings  Department;  those  on 
other  cities  by  the  Transit  Department,  which  sends  these  items  to 
the  bank's  country  correspondents.  The  letters  enclosing  these 
items  are  handled  by  the  Mail  Department,  which  finally  sends  them 
on  their  way.  Under  special  arrangements,  the  items  are  often 
charged  on  the  Country  Books  on  the  day  of  their  receipt  at 
destination. 

Meanwhile  the  Signature  Department  has  filed  specimen  signa- 
tures of  the  officers  authorized  to  sign  for  the  account,  and  the  name 
of  the  company  has  been  given  to  the  Addressograph  Department, 
where  a  plate  is  made  in  anticipation  of  the  many  times- the  name 
must  be  used. 


SPECIALIZATION  WITHIN  BUSINESS  UNITS  57 

The  officers  of  the  company  now  find  that  its  business  necessitates 
a  loan,  and  come  with  a  request  for  $100,000.  The  Bank  Officers 
discuss  the  matter,  have  the  Credit  Department  investigate  the 
company's  reputation  for  prompt  payment  (the  letters  of  inquiry 
being  actually  run  off  in  the  Stenographic  Department),  and  at  the 
close  of  the  investigation,  the  Executive  Committee  agrees  to  a  loan 
of  $50,000  unsecured,  and  a  further  loan  of  $50,000  secured  by 
acceptable  collateral.  For  this,  there  are  brought  to  the  bank  some 
good  bonds  which  have  been  in  the  assets  of  the  company,  and  after 
the  Collateral  Department  has  checked  them  over  and  O.K.'d  them,  the 
loan  is  put  through  at  the  Discount  Department,  which  makes  out  a 
credit  to  the  company's  account  of  the  amount  of  the  loan  less  discoimt. 

After  the  account  has  been  on  the  books  for  awhile,  the  Analysis 
Department  analyzes  its  value  to  the  bank  by  crediting  it  with  the 
proper  profit,  and  charging  it  with  its  fair  share  of  "overhead,"  etc. 
The  Average  Cards  Department  records  on  a  large  card  the  average 
balances  month  by  month,  together  with  the  maximum  and  minimum 
loans.  At  the  end  of  each  month,  the  Cancelled  Vouchers  Depart- 
ment returns  to  the  company  all  the  checks  drawn  that  month. 

John  Smith  &  Co.  has  a  branch  in  San  Francisco  handling  a  petty 
cash  account  with  a  San  Francisco  bank.  This  account  being  drawn 
low,  the  Wire  Transfer  Department  is  called  upon  to  telegraph 
funds  to  the  San  Francisco  bank. 

Drafts  drawn  against  the  customer  are  handled  by  the  City 
Collection  Department,  and  presently  some  notes  receivable  are 
brought  in  for  the  bank  to  collect.  Those  payable  out  of  town  are 
handled  by  the  Country  Collection  Department,  those  within  the 
city  by  the  Note  Teller.  The  Paying  Tellers  of  course  cash  the 
customer's  checks.  When  the  company  wishes  to  invest  part  of  its 
surplus  funds,  it  buys  some  stocks  through  the  Special  Securities 
Department.  Any  difference  in  figures  which  arises  in  handling  the 
account  is  adjusted  by  the  Audit  Department. 

Having  received  such  good  service  at  the  bank,  Mr.  Smith,  the 
president  of  the  company,  now  suggests  that  his  wife  open  an  account 
in  the  affiliated  Savings  Department.  As  she  accumulates  a  little 
ready  money,  she  wishes  to  invest  it  in  some  trustworthy  bond,  and 
the  Bond  Department  takes  care  of  this  for  her.  Having  a  friend  in 
Japan  to  whom  she  wishes  to  send  a  Christmas  gift  of  money,  she 
turns  again  to  the  bank,  and  the  Foreign  Department  sells  her  a 
foreign  draft,  with  due  allowance  for  exchange. 


58  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Mr.  Smith  now  being  called  upon  to  undertake  a  journey  which 
he  feels  may  possibly  be  somewhat  hazardous,  he  decides  to  let  the 
Trust  Department  create  a  living  trust,  whereby  his  family  will  be 
safely  provided  for  in  any  eventuality. 

Mrs.  Smith's  sister,  who  has  managed  a  small  business  since  her 
husband's  death,  is  now  induced  to  transfer  her  account  to  this 
"family"  bank,  and  is  satisfactorily  taken  care  of  by  the  Women's 
Department;  wishing  to  buy  a  small  home,  the  Real  Estate  Depart- 
ment sends  a' man  out  to  make  an  appraisal  of  the  desired  property. 
She  decides  to  take  a  box  in  the  Safety  Deposit  Vaults  for  her  securi- 
ties, and  as  the  coupons  on  her  bonds  fall  due,  takes  them  to  the 
Coupon  Department  to  be  cashed  or  deposited. 

In  addition  to  these  departments,  there  are  others  not  dealing 
directly  with  the  individual  customer;  for  instance,  all  general  infor- 
mation goes  to  the  General  Files,  and  the  accounts  of  the  bank  with 
other  banks  are  kept  in  the  General  Books.  Shipments  of  currency  to 
the  bank's  correspondents  are  handled  by  the  Currency  Department. 

There  are  also  a  group  of  departments  related  only  indirectly 
to  the  customer,  known  as  "internal  service"  departments,  including 
the  Chief  Clerk's  Department,  the  Guards,  the  Interest,  Telegraph, 
Telephone,  Printing,  and  Supply  Departments.^ 

The  following  analysis  of  2,306  positions  held  by  1,000  men 
and  boys  brings  out  the  characteristic  of  specialization  in  office 
work  by  showmg  the  wide  range  of  positions  held. 

TABLE  VIII 
2,306  Positions  Held  by  i,cxx3  Men  and  Boys*    , 

Officials,  Managers,  Supervisors: 

Executives 40 

Department  managers,  agents 30 

Credit  men 16 

Secretaries,  treasurers,  assistant  secretaries 11 

Advertising  men S 

Supervisors 5 

Efficiency  engineers 2 

Total 109 

♦Adapted  by  permission  from  Bertha  M.  Stevens,  Boys  and  Girls  in  Commercial  Work, 
p.  24.    The  Survey  Committee  of  the  Cleveland  Foundation,  1916. 

^  A  statement  prepared  by  Miss  A.  L.  Batchelder,  Continental  and 
Commercial  Bank,  Chicago,  March,  1922. 


SPECIALIZATION  WITHIN  BUSINESS  UNITS  59 

TABLE  VIII— Continued 
Special: 

Salesmen,  solicitors 139 

Distributors,  demonstrators,  canvassers,  collectors 84 

Inspectors 12 

Storekeepers 4 

Buyers 2 

Estimator i 

Total 242 

Bookkeepers,  etc.: 

Bookkeepers,  assistants 151 

Cashiers 37 

Paymasters,  assistants 14 

Accountants,  assistants 10 

Statistical  workers 5 

Auditors,  assistants 4 

Tellers 2 

Total 223 

Stenographers: 

Stenographers 174 

Private  secretaries •  3 

Total 177 

Clerks: 

Shipping 85 

Cost  production • 63 

Receiving,  stock 59 

Sales  order 48 

Time 47 

Record  entry 20 

Mail 15 

Bill 12 

Railway 12 

Claim 7 

File,  index 7 

Inventory 7 

Invoice 6 

Sale 4 

Pricing 3 

Routing 2 

Voucher 2 

Unspecified 927 

Total 1 ,326 


6o  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

, ,     ,  .      „,    ,  TABLE  VIII— Continued 

Machine  Workers: 

Billers 13 

Multigraph  operators 3 

Typists 3 

Total ^g 

General  Clerical  Workers: 

Office  boys,  messengers 166 

Checkers  and  general  office  workers 44 

Total 210 

Grand  Total 2 ,306 

TABLE  IX 
2,816  Positions  Held  by  Women  and  Girls* 
Officials,  Managers,  Supervisors: 

Supervisors 23 

Executives 14 

Department  managers 13 

Secretaries  and  treasurers,  assistant  treasurers 4 

Total 54 

Special: 

Copywriters,  proofreaders 14 

Research  worker i 

Total IS 

Bookkeepers,  etc.: 

Bookkeeping  and  cashier  assistants 324 

Auditing  assistants 196 

Statistical  workers 35 

Bookkeepers 7 

Auditors 2 

Cashiers 2 

Total 566 

Stenographers: 

Stenographers 948 

Stenographers  and  billers 20 

Private  secretaries 19 

Stenographers  and  dictating-machine  operators 4 

Managers,  stenography  bureau 2 

Stenography  and  translator i 

Stenography  and  bookkeeper i 

Total 995 

^       ♦Bertha  M.  Stevens,  op.  cit.,  p.  25. 


SPECIALIZATION  WITHIN  BUSINESS  UNITS  6i 

TABLE  IX— Continued 
Clerks: 

Credit i8 

Information 6 

Claim 4 

Record 3 

Insurance 2 

Employment 

File 

Mail 

Order 

Stock 


Total 38 

Machine  Workers: 

Typists 399 

Billers 130 

Tabulating-machine  operators 32 

Comptometer  operators 28 

Multigraph  operators 19 

Billing  and  comptometer  operators 18 

Machine  operators,  not  requiring  training 16 


Total 642 

General  Clerical  Workers: 

Filing  and  general  clerical 155 

Recording,  entering,  cataloguing 132 

Checking,  counting,  sorting 127 

Long-hand  writing 71 

Information  desk,  telephone ,. 21 

Total 506 


Grand  total 2 ,  816 

The  committee  making  the  survey  just  quoted  indicated 
that  the  following  were  "typical  work  and  positions  in  large 
office  organizations":^ 

^  im.,  p.  35. 


62  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

ADMINISTRATIVE  CLERICAL 

Types  of  work  Types  of  work 

Financiering  Accounting  and  bookkeeping 

Organization  and  administration  Credit  work 

Merchandising  and  advertising  Handling  of  funds 

Development  and  experimentation       Correspondence 
Efficiency  engineering  Filing  and  records 

Workers  Workers 

Officials  Auditors 

Managers  Accountants 

Salesmen  and  advertising  men  Bookkeepers 

Other  specialists  Credit  men 

Assistants  to  above  Cashiers 

Clerks 

Stenographers 
Machine  operators 
Telephone  operators 
Messengers 
Office  boys 

What  conclusions  regarding  education  for  business  are  to 
be  drawn  from  the  fact  of  specialization  within  business  units  ? 
Two,  at  least,  impress  themselves.  First,  if  people  are  to  do 
specialized  work  they  miist  he  trained  for  specialized  performance. 
Specialized  techniques  must  be  taught.  This  is  only  saying 
that  people  must  be  taught  to  do  what  they  are  to  do.  The 
tendency  in  business  education  has  been  to  appreciate  this 
fact  readily  enough,  though,  as  will  appear,  there  has  been  on 
the  part  of  educators  a  strange  lack  of  awareness  of  the  changes 
in  the  performance  requirements  of  industry. 

A  second  conclusion,  arising  from  a  realization  of  the 
specialized  tasks  of  business,  is  that  performance  in  a  business 
will  go  hut  little  toward  teaching  the  business  as  a  whole.  Time 
was,  of  course,  when  experience  in  a  business  was  the  recognized 
method  of  learning  the  business.  To  many  it  is  still  the  recog- 
nized way.  But  such  recognition  is  largely  a  mistaken  recogni- 
tion. The  reason  is  the  specialization  within  business  units. 
The  lining  stitcher  and  the  eyeleter  are  not  learning  even  shoe 
manufacturing,  to  say  nothmg  of  how  to  direct  such  a  business, 
nor  is  the  successful  liver  wrapper  on  the  logical  route  to  the 
directorate  of  a  packing-plant.    Though  it  has  been  true  for 


SPECIALIZATION  WITHIN  BUSINESS  UNITS  63 

a  shorter  period,  the  same  conclusions  hold  good  in  office  work. 
Specialized  technique  is  required  in  office  work,  specialized 
technique  can  be  sold  to  employers,  and  specialized  technique 
must  be  taught.  But  specialized  work  in  the  office  does  not, 
with  very  few  exceptions,  give  a  knowledge  of  the  business  as 
a  whole.  The  opportunity  of  the  billing  clerk,  the  file  clerk, 
the  ledger  poster,  the  invoice  clerk,  the  storekeeper,  the  teller, 
the  machine  operator,  to  learn  of  those  relationship  adjustments 
which  constitute  the  real  conduct  of  the  business  is  negligible. 
Unless  the  business  is  small,  bookkeepers,  cashiers,  time- 
keepers, and  so-called  accountants  have  little  more  chance. 
As  business  tends  to  become  larger,  specialization  deprives  the 
specialists  of  the  chance  to  learn  from  their  daily  work  even  the 
relationships  within  the  unit  itself.  Examples  are  ever5rwhere. 
Ask  the  typical  salesperson,  even  one  of  several  years'  ex- 
perience, what  his  daily  work  has  taught  him  of  the  organiza- 
tion and  administration  of  the  department  store.  Ask  him 
what  his  work  has  shown  him  of  the  considerations  which  under- 
lie the  policies  of  the  house.  Ask  the  clerk  (in  any  one  of  a 
dozen  capacities)  in  a  large  bank  or  general  office  what  he  has 
learned  in  one  or  two  years  about  the  relationships  of  his  depart- 
ment to  other  departments  and  the  integration  of  all.  Or  ask 
what  has  been  made  clear  to  him  concerning  the  policies  of  the 
institution.  Ask  any  of  these  questions  and  it  will  be  seen 
quickly  enough  that  specialization  within  a  business  unit  has 
made  experience  of  very  doubtful  service  as  a  teacher  of  business. 
It  has  made  it  of  almost  no  value  if  we  consider  its  utility  in 
teaching  the  general  relationships  in  the  organization  and 
administration  of  which  business  consists. 

Sensing,  then,  the  intense  specialization  of  all  large-scale 
modern  business,  we  may  conclude,  first,  that  specialized 
techniques  must  be  taught.  We  need  not  yet  conclude  where 
they  should  be  taught.  That  question  must  wait  until  we  con- 
sider the  various  institutions  which  ofiFer  their  services  for  the 
task.  Second,  we  may  decide  that  specialization  has  made 
"learning  by  experience"  of  doubtful  value  so  far  as  the  broader 
phases  of  business  are  concerned.    The  task  of  teaching  these 


64  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

relationships,  then,  must  be  taught  somewhere  outside  business 
itself.  The  assignment  of  that  duty,  too,  may  well  wait  for 
later  discussion. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Is  specialization  within  business  units  also  a  "method  of  produc- 
tion"? Does  it  result  in  more  rapid  production  than  non- 
specialization?  Make  out  as  long  a  list  as  possible  of  the  ways 
in  which  specialization  within  business  units  increases  production 
as  compared  with  non-specialization. 

2.  Is  there  specialization  of  the  teaching  stafif  within  the  school  unit 
with  which  you  are  most  familiar  ?  What  seems  to  you  the 
advantages  and  disadvantages  of  such  specialization  ? 

3.  Think  of  any  business  (several  if  possible)  with  which  you  are 
famiHar.  Is  specialization  used?  Does  the  amount  of  special- 
ization seem  to  vary  to  any  degree  with  the  size  of  the  business  ? 

4.  Does  it  seem  to  you  that  specialization  is  increasingly  common  in 
teaching  commercial  courses  ?    What  evidence  have  you  noticed  ? 

5.  Suppose  that  a  boy  graduating  from  the  commercial  course  of  a 
high  school  takes  a  job  in  a  large  bank,  or  in  the  general  office  of  a 
railroad  company,  large  wholesale  house,  or  manufacturing  plant, 
what  are  his  chances  of  "learning  the  business"  ? 

6.  "The  speciahsts  in  a  modem  office  or  factory  are  separate,  indi- 
vidual, unrelated  units.  They  know  little  of  the  work  of  one 
another.  They  care  less.  There  is  no  co-operation."  How 
much  truth  is  there  in  these  statements  ? 

7.  "Specialization  within  business  units  leads  to  a  feeling  of  futihty 
in  the  minds  of  the  speciahsts.  One  cannot  be  interested  where 
he  has  no  sense  of  his  contribution  to  the  whole."  Do  you  think 
this  statement  is  sound  ?  Why  is  there  so  Uttle  sense  of  contribu- 
tion to  the  whole  result  when  one  is  specializing?  What  might 
be  done  to  make  a  realization  of  the  speciahst's  contribution  more 
clear  to  the  speciaUst  ? 

8.  A  study  of  modem  business  units  makes  it  clear  that  specializa- 
tion within  those  imits  prevails.  Thus  it  follows:  (i)  specialized 
training  must  be  given;  (2)  the  public  schools  must  teach  it;  (3) 
commercial  courses  must  be  devoted  to  it.  With  what  ones  of 
these  statements,  if  any,  do  you  agree  ? 

9.  Formulate  a  series  of  statements  that  seem  to  you  to  summarize 
the  suggestions  for  business  education  that  come  from  a  study  of 
this  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VI 

SCIENCE  IN  BUSINESS  AND  LARGE-SCALE 
PRODUCTION 

There  are  at  least  two  other  characteristics  of  the  modern 
method  of  want-gratification  to  which  we  must  give  some 
attention  if  we  would  have  an  adequate  notion  of  what  business 
is.  These  are  the  scientific  or  technological  character  of 
business  and  the  large  scale  of  operations.  As  with  specializa- 
tion, so  with  the  application  of  science  to  industry  and  the 
large  scale  of  modern  operations.  Both  can  be  thought  of  as 
methods  of  producing  goods.  Large-scale  operations  and  the 
use  of  natural  forces,  machine  industry,  as  it  is  often  called, 
have  proved  themselves  such  powerful  instruments  of  increasing 
production  that  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  they  will 
become  more  and  more  typical  of  business.  The  fact  that 
these  methods  are  prevalent,  like  the  fact  of  specialization  of 
and  within  business  units,  has  much  to  suggest  to  anyone  who 
is  interested  in  education  for  business.  Let  us  consider  them 
in  turn. 

Early  industry  was  hand,  tool,  human-power  industry. 
Everyone  is  familiar  with  the  methods  of  household  manufacture 
in  colonial  days  in  America.  Manufacture  was  thought  of  in 
terms  of  craftsmanship  rather  than  factory  production. 
Natural  forces  were  not  extensively  employed.  Human  energy 
was  the  source  of  power,  and  the 'contributions  of  physics  and 
chemistry  to  production  had  not  yet  been  made.  But  the 
application  of  these  and  other  sciences  to  industry  came,  and 
came  with  great  suddenness. 

The  change  from  hand  industry  to  power  industry  in  Eng- 
land, sudden,  decisive  and  bringing  with  it  innumerable  results 
in  aUnost  every  phase  of  life,  is  called  the  Industrial  Revolution. 
One  may  think  of  the  Industrial  Revolution  as  beginning  in 
1750,  or  he  may  think  of  it  as  beginning  some  centuries  before 

65 


66  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

that  time.  One  may  think  of  its  continuing  for  fifty  years  or 
sixty  years,  or  he  may  quite  sensibly  think  of  it  as  still  going 
on,  as  we  are  steadily  making  more  and  more  use  of  science  in 
our  work  of  gratifying  wants.  Certain  it  is  that  some  of  the 
most  striking  and  most  sudden  applications  of  science  to  business 
were  made  in  the  years  immediately  following  1750.  The 
textile  industry  was  of  great  importance  in  England  at  that 
time,  and  to  aid  manufacture  one  invention  pressed  upon 
another.  In  1738  the  flying  shuttle  gave  a  new  speed  to  weav- 
ing, which  had  been  the  "neck  of  the  bottle"  in  the  process  of 
making  cloth.  In  1764  a  new  spinning  device,  the  spinning 
jenny,  and  in  1779  the  spinning  mule  were  devised.  The  year 
1789  saw  a  machine  constructed  which  could  be  operated  by 
water  or  steam  power;  in  1792  Eli  Whitney  introduced  the 
cotton  gin.  The  importance  of  these  machines  becomes  appar- 
ent when  we  realize  that  in  this  same  period  the  use  of  steam 
in  manufacture  was  begun,  the  manufacture  of  steam  engines- 
bemg  started  in  1781.  Consonant  with  these  great  changes 
came  new  uses  of  science  in  coal  mining  and  in  smelting  ore. 
More  gradually,  but  as  certainly,  science  pervaded  other  indus- 
tries. All  of  us  are  familiar  with  some  of  its  achievements  in 
transportation  and  communication  which  we  witness  in  the 
railroad,  the  airplane,  the  steamship,  the  telephone,  the  tele- 
graph, and  the  wireless. 

These  changes,  for  many  reasons  into  which  we  cannot  go 
here,  were  much  retarded  in  America.  In  some  ways  and  in 
some  sections  the  United  States  was  little  more  advanced  in 
its  use  of  science  in  industry  in  1850  than  England  was  in  1750. 
But  when  the  change  came,  it  came  rapidly.  During  the  past 
fifty  years  America  has  led  in  the  extent  and  daring  with  which 
science  has  been  appUed  to  many  phases  of  business.  At 
present  there  is  probably  no  country  in  which  science  plays  a 
larger  part  in  everyday  affairs. 

The  result  of  the  application  of  science  to  industry  is  a 
changed  world — a  world  which  has  changed  so  markedly  and 
so  suddenly  that  even  our  fathers  often  think  of  it  in  old- 
fashioned  terms.     Science  is  now  everywhere. 


SCIENCE  m  BUSINESS  67 

The  knowledge  and  control  of  chemical  facts  and  processes  are 
involved  in  the  manufacture  of  most  common  necessities  of  modem 
life,  such  as  steel,  glass,  copper,  lead,  aluminum,  illuminating  gas, 
hydrocarbons,  cotton,  wool  and  silk  textiles,  paper,  soap,  and  glycerin, 
in  preparing  sugar,  starch,  etc.,  and  also  in  many  operations  concerned 
with  building  and  construction.  It  is  important  in  the  industry  of 
the  household  as  well  as  in  the  industries  of  the  world.  Chemistry  has 
contributed  greatly  to  human  comfort  and  welfare  in  the  past;  but 
this  is  only  an  earnest  of  what  it  will  contribute  in  the  future.  One 
can  hardly  overestimate  the  importance  of  the  study  of  chemistry 
in  any  field  in  which  one  is  likely  to  labor.^ 

The  contributions  of  physics  are  innumerable.  Whether 
we  think  of  transportation  by  rail,  on  water,  or  m  the  air, 
whether  we  think  of  manufacturing  in  almost  any  of  its  varied 
forms,  lighting,  heating,  or  refrigeration,  we  find  that  physics 
underlies  the  industry  concerned.  What  the  scientist,  the  ex- 
plorer for  the  industrial  world,  discovers  is  almost  invariably 
put  to  practical  use. 

Other  sciences  pervade  industry  in  general  perhaps  less 
insistently,  but  in  particular  industries  they  are  of  basic  impor- 
tance and  in  many  significant.  Metallurgy,  geology,  biology, 
and  botany  need  only  to  be  mentioned  to  call  to  our  minds 
their  importance  in  everyday  affairs.  There  is  hardly  a  moment 
of  our  lives  unaffected  by  "engineers"  of  electricity,  architec- 
ture, sanitation,  heating,  ventilation,  hydraulics,  gas,  transporta 
tion,  or  mechanics.  Each  of  these  makes  application  of  one 
or  a  dozen  sciences. 

But  what  has  this  invasion  of  industry  by  science  meant 
for  business  education?  In  its  simplest  terms,  it  has  meant 
that  business  education,  if  it  is  to  embody  the  characteristics  of 
modem  busuiess,  must  provide  some  training  in  the  sciences  as 
well  as  in  social  relations.  This  does  not  mean  that  to  be 
equipped  for  engaging  in  any  general  business  activity  one 
must  become  a  master  of  all  the  sciences,  or  an  expert  in  any 
one  branch.    But  there  are  many  types  of  business  where 

^Adapted  by  pennission  from  Smith  and  Jewett,  Introduction  to  the 
Study  of  Science^  pp.  418-19.    Macmillan  Co.,  1918. 


68  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

executive  control  demands  at  least  intelligence  concerning 
technological  considerations.  In  the  direction  of  industrial 
processes,  for  example,  which  call  for  the  application  of  various 
phases  of  science,  those  in  charge  should  be  sufficiently  informed 
about  their  technological  aspects  to  be  able  to  engage  the  right 
engineers,  to  understand  their  work,  and  to  make  decisions 
regarding  the  results. 

An  understanding  of  science  at  first  glance  may  appear 
necessary  only  in  the  case  of  engineering  projects  or  of  industries 
engaged  in  changing  the  physical  composition  or  appearance 
of  certain  materials,  as  in  the  manufacture  of  steel  or  the  dyeing 
of  fabrics.  The  extent  of  the  use  of  scientific  knowledge,  how- 
ever, goes  far  beyond  such  direct  applications  into  the  field  of 
commercial  activity.  Cost  accounting,  which  is  not  generally 
regarded  as  a  branch  of  the  exact  sciences,  must  consider,  for 
example,  power  requirements,  the  relative  efficiency  of  various 
processes,  and  the  relation  of  any  one  of  these  processes  to  the 
costs  of  the  business.  Even  when  the  advice  of  engineering 
specialists  is  employed,  the  accountant  must  be  able  to  under- 
stand their  terminology  and  viewpoint.  Banking,  to  use  a  case 
in  another  field,  is  essentially  concerned  with  the  intelligent 
placing  of  loans.  The  intelligent  placing  of  loans  depends  for 
its  success  not  upon  a  knowledge  of  the  matters  of  routine  detail 
within  the  bank,  but  upon  a  knowledge  of  the  probable  achieve- 
ments of  those  firms  to  whom  accommodation  is  extended. 
It  then  becomes  evident  that  accuracy  by  the  banker  in  estimat- 
ing such  achievements  calls  at  least  for  a  sensitiveness  to  the 
conditions  of  plant,  equipment,  methods,  and  processes  as  they 
affect  production.  As  in  the  case  of  the  accountant,  the 
assistance  of  a  scientific  expert  does  not  relieve  the  banker  from 
the  necessity  of  being  able  to  appreciate  various  technological 
considerations.  Finally,  in  merchandising,  which  may  not 
appear  to  be  anything  more  than  a  means  of  exchanging  goods, 
a  knowledge  of  the  physical  make-up  of  the  goods  to  be  bought 
and  the  adaptability  to  various  uses  of  the  goods  to  be  sold 
is  required.  The  most  direct  example  of  this  particular  use 
occurs  in  the  sale  of  goods  for  the  technical  processes  of  public 


SCIENCE  IN  BUSINESS 


69 


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70  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

utilities,  factories,  railroads,  and  the  like,  where  a  knowledge  of 
the  scientific  principles  which  underlie  the  technique  is  a  pre- 
requisite to  effective  merchandising.  These  immediate  values 
of  some  study  of  science  are  quickly  reflected  from  a  study  of 
the  technological  aspects  of  modern  business.  Its  deeper  use  to 
the  business  administrator,  as  to  others,  lies  in  its  fundamentally 
educative  character. 

The  second  characteristic  of  modem  business  which  has 
been  indicated  for  discussion  in  this  chapter  is  its  tendency  to 
large  size.  Certain  phases  of  this  tendency  toward  large-scale 
operations  are  brought  out  in  a  mere  enumeration  of  factual  data. 

It  will  be  worth  while  to  notice  in  examining  Table  X  the 
fact  that  corporations  rather  than  the  individuals  or  other  forms 
of  business  enterprise  manufactured  more  than  83  per  cent  of 
the  total  value  of  products;  that  the  average  per  estabUshment 
for  corporations  for  1914  was  more  than  $258,000,  as  contrasted 
with  something  over  $13,000,  the  average  per  establishment  of 
Individual  concerns. 

The  tendency  toward  large-scale  production  appears  to  be 
on  the  increase.  This  tendency  lies,  of  course,  in  the  fact  that 
there  are  a  number  of  underlying  advantages  in  this  form  of 
production  as  applied  to  many  types  of  goods.  These  advan- 
tages are  stated  by  one  writer  as  follows: 

What  are  the  economic  advantages  of  manufacturing  in  a  large 
plant  and  doing  business  on  a  large  scale,  and  how  important  are 
they  ?  Different  industries  differ  among  themselves  very  greatly  in 
these  respects,  and  any  general  statement  will  need  modification 
when  applied  to  a  particular  case.  What  is  said  wiU  be  more  appli- 
cable to  those  groups  of  industries  which  are  better  adapted  for 
concentration. 

1.  The  handling  of  material. — ^The  handling  of  material  on  a 
large  scale  in  itself  gives  great  economy. 

2.  The  use  of  machinery  and  departments. — In  the  large  manu- 
factory it  is  possible  to  use  machinery  to  an  extent  not  possible  in 
the  small  establishment.  The  introduction  of  labor-saving  machines 
is  well  known  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  causes  of  economic  efficiency. 

3.  Subdivision  of  labor. — 'In  most  manufactories  an  article  must 
go  through  many  processes  before  it  is  completed.     Specialization  of 


SCIENCE  IN  BUSINESS  71 

labor  is  only  possible  in  the  large  manufactory,  and  it  is  generally 
agreed  that  such  specialization  gives  increased  efficiency. 

4.  Integration. — ^A  further  step  in  the  development  of  concentra- 
tion of  industry  is  its  integration;  that  is,  a  corporation  handles,  not 
one  stage  of  manufacture  only,  but  a  number  or  even  all  of  the  stages 
from  the  raw  material  to  the  finished  product.  This  again  gives 
increased  economy  and  efficiency,  because  all  the  different  units  of  the 
integrated  industry  are  in  harmony,  one  with  reference  to  the  other. 

5.  Parallel  consolidation  and  specialization. — Under  these  condi- 
tions it  is  possible  to  make  the  same  product  at  the  different  plants, 
or  to  specialize  the  different  manufactories  under  the  same  organiza- 
tion so  that  one  shall  handle  one  line  of  work,  and  another  another. 
Further,  the  work  of  any  one  branch  may  become  standardized  and 
require  comparatively  little  shifting  or  changing  of  machines. 

Cross  freights  are  avoided  to  a  large  extent  when  the  manufactor- 
ies of  one  district  supply  the  markets  of  that  district.  For  articles 
which  are  heavy  as  compared  with  their  cost,  for  instance,  salt  and 
steel  rails,  this  factor  may  be  one  of  controlling  importance. 

6.  Saving  by-products. — ^A  further  advantage  of  magnitude  is  the 
use  of  by-products.  The  small  manufactory  cannot  spend  much 
money  in  such  utilization,  although  the  coarser  of  them  may  be  saved. 

7.  Consolidation  of  allied  industries. — ^The  final  stage  in  consolida- 
tion is  the  union  of  allied  and  connected  industries.  This  frequently 
goes  beyond  integration,  in  that  the  lines  of  manufacture  are  absorbed 
which  use  as  raw  material  the  by-product  of  the  central  organization. 

8.  Keeping  establishments  up  to  date. — The  large  company  uses 
only  the  most  modem  manufactories  which  have  complete  and  highly 
efficient  machinery  and  practices,  including  the  latest  labor-saving 
devices  and  the  best  technical  improvements. 

9.  Investigating  departments. — The  large  organization  is  able  to 
have  an  investigating  department  in  order  that  discoveries  may  be 
made  for  still  further  improvements. 

10.  Business  advantages  of  concentration. — Thus  far  the  industrial 
advantages  of  concentration  only  have  been  given.  Upon  the  busi- 
ness side  there  are  also  great  economies.  Some  of  the  most  important 
of  these  are  as  follows: 

a)  Big  organizations  are  able  to  buy  in  large  quantities  and  thus 
gain  the  advantages  of  the  lowest  rates  of  purchase. 

b)  Big  organizations  are  able  to  sell  in  large  quantities  and  most 
advantageously.    A  large  part  of  the  cost  of  business  under  new 


72  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

conditions  is  the  marketing  of  products.  In  the  marketing  there 
are  great  costs  in  commercial  travelers,  in  advertisements,  etc. 
With  the  large  concentration  the  advertising  cost  per  unit  of  sale  is 
much  lower  than  with  the  small  industry. 

c)  When  there  is  a  single  great  federated  establishment,  orders 
can  be  received  at  a  central  office  and  from  that  office  distributed 
to  the  different  plants  as  best  required  by  efficiency  in  manufacture, 
taking  into  account  the  expense  of  transportation. 

d)  Also  the  mere  size  of  an  establishment,  so  that  it  may  be  able 
to  take  a  large  order  at  a  time  and  fill  it  promptly,  gives  a  great 
advantage  over  smaller  concerns. 

e)  For  entering  foreign  trade  the  business  economies  of  concentra- 
tion are  undoubtedly  very  great.  Sending  to  foreign  countries  to 
build  up  a  trade  for  an  industry  is  an  expensive  undertaking. 

/)  The  losses  through  poor  debts  are  less  with  large  organizations 
than  with  small  ones.  Frequently  where  there  are  many  organiza- 
tions having  keen  competition  with  a  large  number  of  traveling  sales- 
men, sales  are  made  without  careful  reference  to  the  ability  of  the 
purchaser  to  pay. 

g)  One  of  the  greatest  advantages  of  concentration  with  co- 
operation of  the  independent  units  is  the  regulation  of  production. 
The  great  losses  are  avoided  which  result  from  investments  of  capital 
in  manufactories  which  run  only  a  portion  of  the  time  and  before 
they  shut  down  produce  more  goods  than  can  be  sold  at  a  profit. 

h)  A  less  amount  of  capital  is  necessary  in  order  to  handle  a 
combined  business  than  would  be  necessary  if  a  great  organization 
were  subdivided.  If  a  concern  be  fairly  independent  of  the  banks 
and  the  necessity  to  pay  excessive  rates  of  interest,  it  must  keep  a 
considerable  amount  of  ready  cash  on  hand  to  handle  its  business. 
A  very  large  concern,  in  which  the  variations  in  the  demands  for  the 
different  products  compensate  for  one  another  to  some  extent  at 
least,  is  able  to  handle  its  business  with  a  relatively  small  cash 
reserve. 

11.  Opportunity  far  high  order  of  ability. — ^It  may  be  that  a  final 
advantage  of  concentration  will  be  the  opportunity  for  the  display 
of  ability  of  the  highest  order. 

12.  Other  advantages  of  concentration. — Other  advantages  of 
concentration  are  frequently  claimed.  Among  these  are:  steady 
employment  of  labor,  better  wages,  better  protection  against 
industrial  accidents,  the  maintenance  of  superior  quality,  etc.    These 


SCIENCE  IN  BUSINESS 


73 


points  are  not  here  introduced  as  advantages  of  concentration,  since 
in  reference  to  them  there  is  a  marked  difference  of  opinion.^ 

But  the  social  and  managerial  advantages  of  large-scale 
production  we  cannot  stop  here  to  discuss  at  length.  Its 
importance  for  our  purposes  lies  in  certain  ways  in  which  it 
affects  the  knowledge  needed  by  one  who  takes  part  in 
industry. 

In  the  first  place  the  increasing  scale  of  bushiess  (coupled 
with  science  in  industry  and  with  specialization)  has  brought 
new  methods  of  management  into  business. 

It  was  found  that  the  very  structure  of  a  large  business,  the 
relation  of  one  part  to  another,  and  the  assignment  of  duties  and 
responsibilities  could  be  kept  clear  only  with  such  mechanical 
aids  as  charts  and  diagrams.  The  organization  plan  and 
devolution  of  duties  even  in  departments  have  often  become 
so  large  that  detailed  chartings  are  useful. 

Ideas  of  the  most  efficient  relations  between  executives, 
subexecutives,  advisers,  and  subordinates  often  find  expression 
in  such  terms  as  line  organization,  staff  organization,  and  func- 
tional organization  These  relations  may  be  expressed  in 
*' Control  Manuals"  or  illustrated  by  the  use  of  charts.* 

LINE  AND  STAFF  ORGANIZATION 

(THE  GENERAL  MANAGER  IS  ADVISED  AND 
GUIDED  BY  A  STAFF  OF  EXPERTS) 


SUPERVISOR  OF 
MATERIALS 


STATISTICAL  EXPERT 


TREASURER 


SALES 
MANAGER 


CHIEF 
ACCOUNTANT 


GENERAL  MANAGER 


SHOP 
SUPERINTENDENT 


CHIEF 
ENGINEER 


FINANCIAL  ADVISER 


EFFICIENCY  ADVISER 


PURCHASING 
AGENT 


SHIPPING 
CLERK 


STORES 
KEEPER 


OFFICE 
MANAGER 


'  Adapted  by  permission  from  C.  R.  Van  Hise,  Concentration  and  Con- 
trol, pp.  8-19.    Macmillan  Co.,  1914. 

»  Taken  by  permission  from  Alexander  Hamilton  Institute,  Report 
No.  102,  Organization  Charts,  p.  9. 


74 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


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SCIENCE  IN  BUSINESS 
CHART  II 


75 


f  VICE.PRESIDENT 

B4  CHARGE  OF 

ENGINEERINC 

^  j.  C  BANNISTER 


VKE-PRESTOENT 


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BOSTON  WORKS 

MANAGER 
F.KMOREHEAD 

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HAMAGER 

1 

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^ORCAWZAHON  ) 

PRESIDENT 

HOWARD  COONLEY 


f    ADVBORY        N  M^^J°I 


SECRETARY 
J-SCOOhLEY 


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(  JSTAJT  OtnOAU 

C         ^ORCANgATlOW 


f  HEAD  OF  1 
I  AND  STATU 
v.     W  LWI 


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)(  DIVISION  ) 

V  OKGANCATION  J 


VKE-PRESIDENT 

IN  CHARGE  OF 

ADMINISTRATION 

HOWARD  COONLEY  U 


VICE-PRESIDENT 
IN  CHARGE  OF 

SALES 
W.  P  F  AVER 


CHART  OF  A  MANUFACTURING  PLANT' 


The  new  spirit  and  method  in  the  organization  and  control 
of  industry  had  its  origin  in  manufacturing.  More  than  any 
one  other  person  Frederick  Taylor  stirred  thinking  in  this  field. 
One  student  of  Mr.  Taylor's  methods  thus  points  out  some  of 
the  requirements  in  the  scientific  control  of  modem  large-scale 
business: 

As  I  analyze  it,  there  are  three  principal  aims  in  it:  (i)  seek- 
ing of  more  precise  information  through  investigation,  experiment, 
etc. ;  (2)  as  great  an  amount  of  prediction  of  what  is  going  to  happen 
in  business  operation  as  is  possible  on  the  basis  of  the  unusual  amount 
of  exact  information  acquired;  (3)  precise  control  of  the  processes 
of  conducting  the  business  by  various  functionalized  people  in  such 

'  Chart  II  taken  by  permission  from  J.  O.  McKinsey,  "The  Walworth 
Manufacturing  Company,"  Pamphlet  No.  3,  Cases  and  Problems,  Jlfa/ma/^ 
jor  the  Study  of  Business.    University  of  Chicago  Press,  1922. 


76  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

wise  as  to  bring  about  as  precisely  as  possible  the  predictions 
which  have  been  made  on  the  basis  of  the  exact  information 
required. 

1.  Seeking  of  more  precise  information.  It  is  in  the  scientific- 
management  plant  that  investigation  and  experiment — the  establish- 
ing of  an  experiment  room  with  adequate  equipment  under  the 
direction  of  capable  investigators — have  been  worked  out.  It  is  in 
connection  with  this  investigation  and  experimentation  that  time 
study  has  come  in.  I  cite  it  as  a  method  of  acquiring  precise  informa- 
tion. Time  study  simply  means  a  method  of  acquiring  exact  informa- 
tion with  respect  to  the  time  which  it  takes  a  person  to  do  a  certain 
thing,  with  certain  definite  equipment,  imder  certain  definite 
conditions. 

2.  Precise  prediction.  If  one  by  time  study  and  other  investiga- 
tion has  secured  and  filed  information  telling  the  time  of  performing 
a  unit  operation  with  certain  tools  and  materials  under  certain  condi- 
tions, then  if  an  order  comes  in  to  do  or  make  something  which 
represents  a  combination  of  these  unit  operations,  by  a  simple 
mathematical  calculation  it  is  possible  to  determine  how  long  it  will 
take  to  fill  the  order,  what  materials  and  tools  must  be  provided, 
what  conditions  estabUshed,  when  work  on  each  part  should  begin, 
when  and  how  they  should  be  assembled,  etc.  In  other  words,  an 
accurate  layout  of  work  on  the  job  becomes  possible.  In  most 
plants  layout  is  by  guess.  Guess  involves  waste.  An  accurate  lay- 
out of  separate  jobs  means  accurate  layout  and  dovetailing  of  all 
jobs,  and  economical  and  efficient  operation  of  materials,  equipment 
and  labor;  in  other  words,  more  precise  control. 

3.  Precise  control.  This  means  that  to  each  of  a  number  of 
persons  shall  be  assigned,  with  authority,  the  responsibility  of 
maintaining  one  or  more  of  the  standard  conditions  on  the  basis  of 
which  the  prediction  or  layout  of  a  job  is  made.  The  principal 
standard  conditions  to  be  maintained  are: 

a)  Standard  materials. 

b)  Standard  storing  and  issuing  of  materials. 

c)  Standard  conditions  under  which  work  is  performed. 

d)  Standard  methods  of  performing  operations. 

Through  what  machinery  are  the  three  primary  aims  of  scientific 
management  (investigation,  prediction,  precise  control)  accom- 
phshed?  This  machinery  is  described  in  the  words  functional 
organization. 


SCIENCE  IN  BUSINESS  77 

Functional  organization  is  carried  out  to  an  unusual  degree  in 
manufacturing  plants  by  scientific  management.  First,  there  is 
functional  organization  in  large;  planning  is  separated  entirely  from 
doing.  Now,  in  an  ordinary  manufacturing  plant  an  order  is  received 
to  make  something.  That  is  sent  down  to  the  foreman  with  an  order 
to  "make  twenty-five  of  these  by  the  25th  of  June."  The  foreman 
turns  to  the  workman  and  says,  "start  on  these  day  after  tomorrow." 
There  your  foreman  has  planned  who  is  to  do  it;  how  long  it  will  take; 
how  it  is  to  be  done;  and  so  on.  Under  scientific  management,  on 
the  other  hand,  in  a  room  called  the  planning  room,  where  is  kept  on 
file  all  the  information  which  has  been  gathered  regarding  all  pljases 
of  operation,  the  planning  is  done.  First,  a  list  is  made  of  the 
operations  involved  in  filling  this  order,  and  of  the  materials  and 
equipment  required;  second,  an  estimate  is  made  of  the  time  it  takes 
to  do  each  one  of  the  operations  with  due  allowance  for  uncertainties; 
third,  a  day  is  determined  when  work  on  the  order  is  to  start  in  order 
to  meet  the  date  of  promised  delivery.  All  planning  of  that  sort  is 
done,  and  proper  orders  are  made  out.  On  the  proper  date  these 
orders  are  issued  to  the  man  who  has  charge  of  the  material,  telling 
him  to  send  it  to  such  and  such  a  machine;  and  to  the  workman  at 
that  machine  telling  him  to  start  the  work.  Accompanying  the 
order  issued  him  is  the  analysis  of  the  job  and  definite  instructions 
for  its  performance.^ 

It  is  with  the  implications  of  large-scale  industry  for  educa- 
tion that  we  are  most  concerned.  We  may  set  down  three  as 
important: 

1.  It  is  the  large-scale  character  of  business  quite  as  much 
as  it  is  specialization  and  the  pervasiveness  of  science  that 
makes  it  impossible  to  learn  business  rapidly  by  being  in  it. 
It  is  the  overwhelming  size  of  the  factory,  the  volume  of  the 
large  bank  and  the  great  store,  that  staggers  the  attempt  of 
the  novice  to  comprehend. 

2.  Comprehension  becomes  possible  only  in  terms  of  the 
techniques  which  have  been  devised  for  depicting  large  and 
impersonal  relations.    This  means  not  only  familiarity  with 

'Adapted  by  permission  from  H.  S.  Person,  "Scientific  Management," 
Proceedings  of  Tuck  School  Conference  (191 2),  pp.  4-5;  and  "Scientific 
Management,"  Bulletin  of  the  Taylor  Society,  II  (1916),  pp.  17-19. 


78  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

organization  schemes  and  charting  methods,  but  a  knowledge 
of  the  "laws"  and  principles  of  management,  of  "measuring 
and  communicating  aids  of  control,"  of  budgets,  records,  time 
study,  quotas,  business  indices,  and  barometers.  Thus  the 
student  of  business  needs  a  knowledge  of  these  matters.  If 
his  position  is  small  and  insignificant,  he  needs  it  to  relate  him- 
self to  his  surroundings.  If  he  attains  a  position  of  authority, 
such  knowledge  is  a  necessary  part  of  his  executive  equipment. 
Therefore  the  devices  of  large-scale  organization  must  be  taught. 
3.  Finally,  the  large-scale  character  of  business  (again 
coupled  with  specialization  and  science  in  industry)  has  made 
business  so  impersonal  in  nature  that  it  is  imperative  that  an 
understanding  of  this  quality  be  gained  by  all  who  are  entering 
business  life.  Strong  is  the  man  who,  tutored  to  the  notion  that 
our  co-operative  life  is  personal,  that  service  is  rewarded  in  the 
observation  of  its  own  results,  can  come  to  realize  the  realities 
of  the  situation  without  rancor  and  resentment.  One  who  has 
early  sensed  clearly  the  scale  of  modern  production,  the  con- 
cealment of  human  effort  in  the  "transfer  of  thought  to  the 
machine,"  and  the  ramifying  nature  of  specialization,  has  a 
strong  support.  He  has  the  basis  for  realizing  that  his  con- 
tribution is  certain,  though  unseen,  and  important,  though 
unknown. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Can  you  think  of  machine  industry,  like  specialization,  as  a 
method  of  production?  Just  how  is  machine  industry  more 
productive  than  industry  without  machines  ? 

2.  "Machines  may  be  used  instead  of  physical  labor,  but  they  can 
never  take  the  place  of  mental  labor  except  of  the  most  routine 
kinds."  Is  this  true?  Have  commercial  courses  ever  trained 
students  in  such  a  way  that  they  found  themselves  engaged  in  a 
competition  with  a  machine  ? 

3.  'WTiat  does  the  term  "Industrial  Revolution"  bring  to  your 
mind  ?  What  is  the  point  of  saying  that  the  Industrial  Revolu- 
tion is  still  going  on  ?  Can  you  see  any  point  to  the  statement 
"the  Industrial  Revolution  had  its  beginnings  in  the  explorations 
of  the  fifteenth  century"  ? 


SCIENCE  IN  BUSINESS  79 

4.  Machine  industry,  science  appKed  to  production,  will  become 
more  extensive  as  goods  are  sold  over  wider  markets.  What 
factors  are  at  work  to  make  markets  increasingly  wide  ? 

5.  The  suddenness  with  which  the  Industrial  Revolution  came 
makes  it  difficult  for  us  to  reahze  the  significance  and  the  per- 
vasiveness of  science  in  industry.     Comment. 

6.  Think  of  the  first  five  articles  upon  which  your  eye  rests.  Has 
chemistry  played  an  important  part  in  their  construction  ?  Has 
physics  ?    Have  any  other  of  the  natural  sciences  ? 

7.  Is  it  not  really  nonsense  to  say  that  an  accountant  needs  any 
knowledge  of  science  and  its  applications  to  industry  ? 

8.  How  do  you  explain  the  fact  that  the  term  "efficiency"  in  busi- 
ness is  associated  in  the  minds  of  many  people  with  the  engineer  ? 
What  kind  of  training  has  the  engineer  had?  What  is  your 
notion  of  the  work  done  by  an  efficiency  expert  in  a  manufactur- 
ing plant  ?  Is  such  an  expert  likely  to  be  an  accountant  ?  With 
what  fields  of  knowledge  should  he  be  famihar  ? 

9.  "I  have  known  good  bankers  who  not  only  did  not  know  anything 
of  technology,  but  did  not  know  much  of  anything  excepting 
the  characters  of  the  men  with  whom  they  dealt.  It  is  all  fool- 
ishness to  talk  of  the  need  of  such  outside  matters  for  a  banker." 
Is  honesty  a  sufficient  guaranty  of  payment  by  a  business 
borrower  ?  Is  a  knowledge  of  the  honesty  of  the  borrower  a 
sufficient  quahty  in  the  man  who  lends  other  people's  money  ? 

10.  The  buyer  for  an  investment  bank  is  considering  the  purchase  of 
a  million-dollar  issue  of  bonds  of  a  manufacturing  concern. 
These  bonds  are  to  run  for  forty  years.  If  they  are  purchased, 
they  will  be  sold  to  a  large  niunber  of  investors,  large  and  small. 
As  one  of  the  investors,  you  are  told  that  the  bond  house  has 
investigated  the  good  intentions  of  the  company  and  beheves 
that  they  are  entirely  satisfactory.  Are  you  willing  to  invest 
your  money  on  this  investigation?  List  the  other  facts  which 
you  would  like  to  have  looked  into.  List  the  fields  of  knowledge 
in  which  the  investigator  would  need  training. 

11.  Make  a  rough  diagram  (heavy  horizontal  lines  drawn  approxi- 
mately to  scale  are  enough)  showing  the  average  number  of 
employees  in  manufacturing  plants  in  the  United  States  in  1850 
and  in  19 10.  Do  the  same  for  the  average  capital  invested; 
for  the  average  product  per  plant.  What  does  this  indicate  as 
to  the  scale  of  business  operations  ? 


So  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

12.  What  are  the  alleged  advantages  of  large-scale  operations? 

13.  Has  large-scale  production  had  any  effect  on  overhead  costs 
in  business?  Have  overhead  costs  affected  the  work  of  the 
accountant  ? 

14.  Why  has  the  increasing  scale  of  business  made  necessary  new 
methods  of  management  ?  In  what  way  has  the  application  of 
science  to  industry  increased  the  need  for  better  management? 
In  that  way  has  speciaHzation  increased  the  need  for  more  careful 
management  ? 

15.  How  could  an  organization  chart  be  of  aid  in  the  control  of  a 
business?  Why  was  it  that  business  organization  charts  were 
heard  of  little,  if  at  all,  fifty  years  ago  ? 

16.  Draw  up  a  chart  which  indicates  the  lines  of  authority  and 
responsibility  for  the  educational  institution  with  which  you  are 
most  familiar. 

17.  Look  through  the  statements  on  page  77  concerning  some  of  the 
requirements  of  scientific  control  of  a  large  business.  What 
courses,  if  any,  now  given  in  the  high-school  commercial  course 
would  be  of  great  value  in  such  control  of  a  business?  What 
courses  in  collegiate  schools  of  business  ?  What  types  of  courses 
would  you  suggest  might  be  introduced  to  give  some  understand- 
ing of  such  control  ? 

18.  Set  down  a  Hst  of  statements  which  seem  to  you  to  present  (a) 
the  suggestions  which  you  find  for  business  education  in  a  realiza- 
tion of  the  large-scale  character  of  business;  (b)  the  tjrpes  of 
study  which  a  student  would  need  to  make  to  understand  large- 
scale  business  and  its  management;  (c)  the  effects  on  the  indi- 
vidual worker  of  specialization,  machine  industry,  and  large-scale 
production;  (d)  the  value  to  specialized  workers  of  a  knowledge 
of  the  nature  of  modern  business. 

19.  As  a  result  of  our  study  of  what  business  is,  set  down  a  tentative 
list  of  the  objectives  of  business  education. 


CHAPTER  VII 

WHAT  BUSINESS  SAYS  IT  WANTS:    DIRECT 
EXPRESSIONS 

No  evidence  concerning  what  should  be  the  make-up  of  the 
commercial  curriculum  appears  to  carry  more  weight  than  what 
business  says  it  wants.  But,  as  has  been  indicated  in  the 
introductory  statement  to  Chaper  III,  it  is  easy  to  misinterpret 
and  misjudge  what  business  says  it  wants.  What  business 
wants  from  education  is  expressed  to  some  degree  directly  in 
statements,  books,  and  answers  to  questionnaires.  The  exam- 
ination of  such  evidence  will  occupy  us  in  the  present  chapter. 
In  the  following  chapter  we  shall  examine  the  indirect  state- 
ments of  business. 

In  attempting  to  state  what  business  says  it  wants  it  appears 
altogether  desirable  to  let  business  make  the  statement.  In 
this  chapter  and  the  next,  therefore,  the  "evidence"  is  given 
without  more  interpretation  than  is  involved  in  the  process  of 
selection.  As  a  result,  the  form  used  is  a  series  of  selections 
or  readings  rather  than  a  continued  statement. 

The  direct  statements  of  what  business  wants  are  of  a 
rather  miscellaneous  sort.  There  are  first  presented  here  some 
of  the  t3^es  of  general  statements  which  are  very  common,  and 
which  unfortunately  often  pass  as  being  more  valuable  than 
they  are.  Statements  3  and  4  consist  of  evidence  of  rather 
thoughtful  types,  of  more  interest  to  those  concerned  with 
collegiate  business  education  than  for  persons  training  younger 
pupils.  Statement  5  is  particularly  pertinent  to  special  types  of 
students.  The  two  final  statements  are  expressions  of  labor 
leaders.  It  has  seemed  proper  to  include  such  views  in  a 
section  on  what  business  says  it  wants.  For  the  most  part, 
however,  the  readings  are  selected  because  they  are  expressions 
of  general  views  of  what  formal  education  as  a  whole  should  do 
in  training  for  business. 

81 


82  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

STATEMENT  1 

An  Argument  against  Education  for  Business^ 

I  do  not  employ  college  men  in  my  banking  office,  none  need 
apply.  I  don't  want  them,  for  I  think  they  have  been  spoiled 
for  a  business  life.  The  college  man  is  not  willing  to  begin  at 
the  bottom.  He  looks  down  on  the  humble  places,  which  he 
is  fitted  to  fill.    And,  indeed,  he  looks  down  on  all  business  as 

dull  and  unattractive His  thoughts  are  not  with  his 

business,  but  with  his  books,  literature,  philosophy,  Latin. 
Now  no  man  can  approach  the  exacting  business  life  in  that 
half-hearted  way.     Business  requires  the  undivided  mind. 

1  think  that  a  man  has  just  so  many  niches  in  his  brain. 
In  each  niche  so  many  facts  ....  as  it  were,  fit,  and  then  the 
niche  is  full.  Now,  at  college  a  man  is  busy  filling  up  the  niches, 
and  if  he  goes  through  college  in  the  right  way,  his  niches  are 
all  full.  No,  ....  the  college  man  is  not  the  successful  man 
in  money  affairs.  It  is  the  man  who  has  started  in  as  an  office 
boy  and  who  gets  the  education  of  keenness  and  practical 
knowledge  that  comes  from  early  contact  with  business  men. 

He  has  his  natural  sharpness  and  originality,  and  the 
edge  of  it  is  not  dulled  by  ideas  and  theories  of  life  entirely  out 
of  harmony  with  his  occupation. 

STATEMENT  2 
The  Few  and  Simple  Demands  of  the  Business  World^ 

Every  commercial  student  wants  a  position  as  soon  as  he 
finishes  his  course.  He  is  in  training  for  business.  When  his 
course  is  finished  and  he  starts  out  to  look  for  a  position,  what 
is  it  that  is  going  to  enable  him  to  get  one  ?  Upon  what  quali- 
ties will  business  men  judge  him  or  her  ?  Two  very  important 
qualities  are  personal  appearance  and  personality. 

The  careful  employer  watches  the  applicant's  movements. 
He  gets  the  tone  of  voice.    He  notes  the  choice  of  words.    He 

» Adapted  from  Great  Britain  Special  Report  on  Educational  Subjects, 
Vol.  II,  Part  2,  pp.  287-88.    Board  of  Education,  1902. 

2  Adapted  from  the  Business  Journal  (June,  1916),  pp.  4Si~52. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS        S^ 

notices  the  affected  or  unaffected  manner  and  he  observes  the 
applicant's  self-confidence.  The  qualities  that  good  employers 
desire  and  appreciate  are  clean  habits,  willingness,  untiring 
energy,  loyalty,  alertness,  initiative,  and  originaHty,  the  ability 
to  use  good  judgment,  painstaking  thoroughness  and  enthu- 
siasm. 

STATEMENT  3 

The  Questionnaire  of  the  Illinois  Manufacturers'  Associa- 
tion ON  College  Courses  in  Business  Education^ 

The  questionnaire  which  the  Committee  on  Education  of 
the  Illinois  Manufacturers'  Association  curculated  among  the 
members  of  the  Association  was  designed  to  determine  the 
attitude  of  the  membership  toward  university  courses  in  busi- 
ness administration  and  to  secure  suggestions  concerning  the 
nature  of  the  courses  to  be  offered. 

Of  the  eighty-two  firms  making  reply  the  addresses  of  but 
seventy-two  can  now  be  determined.  Three  answers  were 
received  from  outside  the  state.  Of  the  remaining  sixty-nine 
houses,  sixty  are  located  in  Chicago  and  three  in  Peoria,  while 
replies  were  received  from  one  firm  in  each  of  the  following 
cities:  Aurora,  Clyde,  Decatur,  East  St.  Louis,  Harvey,  and 
Quincy. 

The  types  of  business  engaged  in  by  those  making  reply  are 
diverse,  including  automobile,  milling,  electric,  packing,  soap, 
and  tack  companies.  The  sizes  range  from  small  to  large,  the 
latter  having  the  larger  proportionate  representation. 

Five  questions  were  proposed  in  the  questionnaire.  The 
number  of  definite  answers  to  the  first  and  second  questions  is 
seventy,  to  the  thkd,  sixty,  to  the  fourth,  forty-three,  to  the 
fifth,  forty-five. 

The  first  question  is  as  follows:  What  education  do  we  want 
young  men  to  have  to  whom  we  may  look  in  time  to  improve 
the  organization  of  our  office  staff,  increase  the  efficiency,  and 
reduce  its  cost  ?    The  replies  to  this  question  show  the  follow- 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  The  Committee  on  Education,  Report 
of  the  Illinois  University  Conference  (1913),  pp.  92-98. 


84  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

ing  distribution  of  views  as  to  the  educational  needs  of  the  office 
force: 

No  educational  requirement i 

Grammar  or  common  school 15 

Continuation  school i 

High  school,  without  mention  of  business  courses 13 

High  school,  with  emphasis  on  business  courses 7 

High  school,  supplemented  by  business  college 3 

Business  college i 

General  university  course,  without  mention  of  courses  in  business 

administration 5 

Special  university  courses  along  business  lines 24 

A  number  of  those  favoring  scanty  education  show  a  more 
or  less  rabid  prejudice  against  higher  education,  while  those 
favoring  secondary  education  frequently  refer  to  the  desirability 
of  still  higher  training.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  number  favor- 
ing special  university  training  along  the  lines  of  business  admin- 
istration out-number  any  other  single  class  and  constitute  34 
per  cent  of  the  number  giving  specific  answers  as  compared 
with  24  per  cent  who  favor  nothing  above  the  common  schools, 
28  per  cent  who  emphasize  general  high-school  training,  scarcely 
6  per  cent  requiring  business-college  training,  and  7  per  cent 
who  insist  on  a  broad,  cultural  college  course. 

The  returns  seem  to  indicate  the  comparative  failure  of  the 
business  college  to  equip  men  for  the  larger  needs  of  business 
offices.  They  show,  further,  the  employers'  insistence  on  the 
ability  to  write  legibly  and  to  use  good  English.  The  evidence 
implies  a  strong  expectation  that  the  university  business-admin- 
istration courses  will  produce  more  expert  office  help. 

Question  number  two  is  as  follows:  What  kind  of  training 
should  young  men  have  whom  we  may  expect  to  improve  our 
accounting  systems,  perhaps  introduce  systems  of  cost  account- 
ing that  will  make  it  easier  to  apportion  costs  and  profits,  and  to 
determine  what  parts  of  our  organization  pay  and  what  do  not  ? 
So  far  as  could  be  determined  the  distribution  of  views  as  to 
the  training  needed  for  this  work  is  as  follows: 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:   DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS        85 

Business  college 5 

High  school  or  business  college i 

High  school,  without  mention  of  specific  courses 2 

High  school,  with  emphasis  on  manual  and  mechanical  training . .  2 

General  university  course 3 

Engineering,  without  mention  of  business  courses 2 

Engineering,  with  mention  of  business  courses 2 

Special  university  training,  without  mention  of  business  courses. .  15 

Special  university  training,  with  mention  of  business  courses ....  12 

University  or  apprenticeship i 

Practical  experience,  without  mention  of  any  educational  require- 
ment    14 

Practical  experience,  with  apprenticeship  or  special  investigations  3 
Practical  experience,  with  mention  of  education  but  no  specifica- 
tion as  to  kind 2 

Practical  experience,  with  common-school  education 3 

Practical  experience,  with  high-sehool  course 3 

There  is  considerable  scattering  of  opinion  due  to  the  diver- 
sity of  industries  and  the  small  extent  to  which  cost  accounting 
systems  have  as  yet  been  applied  to  the  problems  of  administra- 
tion in  rtiost  lines  of  business. 

The  feeling  seems  to  prevail  that  much  depends  on  common 
sense,  thinking  power  and  experience.  Seven  per  cent  of  the 
houses  demand  business-college  training,  7  per  cent  high-school 
training,  and  49  per  cent  make  some  kind  of  university  study 
a  minimum  requirement.  Although  36  per  cent  emphasize 
practical  experience,  one-third  of  these  expressly  favor  educa- 
tion of  some  kind,  and  no  one  of  the  others  expresses  opposition 
to  education,  although  making  no  specific  requirements. 

Thus,  in  the  case  of  expert  accountants  as  in  the  case  of 
men  in  other  lines,  the  business  college  appears  to  be  discounted 
in  .its  ability  to  give  adequate  training.  Doubtless  the  greater 
degree  of  expertness  felt  to  be  necessary  in  the  case  of  account- 
ants is  the  chief  explanation  for  the  emphasis  laid  upon  technical 
university  training.  The  fact  that  an  accounting  system  must 
be  adjusted  to  the  needs  of  the  individual  concern  as  well  as  to 
the  special  type  of  business  probably  makes  the  call  for  practical 
experience  more  insistent. 


86  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

The  replies,  then,  show  the  majority  to  be  strongly  in  favor 
of  specialized  university  accounting  course,  while  the  emphasis 
upon  experience  surely  demands  the  most  perfect  laboratory 
development  and  a  large  amount  of  "field  work." 

Question  number  three  relates  to  advertising  and  was  stated 
as  follows:  What  kind  of  education  will  give  us  young  men  who 
can  make  our  advertising  more  efficient  ?  The  returns  from  the 
sixty  houses  making  specific  replies  give  the  following  as  the 
proper  method  of  training  for  advertising  work: 

No  educational  requirement i 

High  school  and  practical  experience 2 

Business  college i 

Practical  experience 12 

General  college  training,  supplemented  by  business  experience. . .  3 

General  college  training,  supplemented  by  special  business  training  5 

General  college  training,  without  further  specifications 14 

Engineering,  without  mention  of  business  courses i 

Special  university  courses  bearing  on  advertising 21 

The  table  of  replies  shows  that  20  per  cent  insist  on  practical 
experience,  while  37  per  cent  favor  general  cultural  education, 
nearly  a  fourth  adding,  however,  that  it  be  supplemented  by 
specialized  business  knowledge.  Thirty-five  per  cent  maintain 
that  special  university  courses  should  be  followed  by  the  pros- 
pective advertising  expert,  one-third  of  these  specify  one  or 
more  lines  of  study  which  they  think  deserve  special  attention. 
Of  the  latter,  three  name  salesmanship  courses,  two  psychology, 
one  expression,  and  one  statistics. 

In  the  replies  considerable  mention  is  made  of  advertising 
"  genius, "  "  publicity  sense, "  and  intuitidh.  There  is  an  evident 
feeling  that  there  is  a  large  element  in  the  advertiser's  business 
that  cannot  be  supplied  by  mere  scientific  training  However, 
in  so  far  as  educational  training  enables  the  advertiser  to  know 
more  completely  the  needs  of  the  purchasers,  and  to  give  better 
expression  to  his  printed  statements  or  appeals  of  other  kinds, 
the  consensus  of  opinion  among  those  making  reply  favors 
education  for  prospective  advertising  specialists. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS        87 

Question  number  four  relates  to  salesmanship  and  is  as 
follows:  What  training  will  give  us  better  salesmen? 

The  amount  of  indefiniteness  to  the  replies  to  this  question 
is  especially  great.  Of  the  sixty-six  who  ventured  answers  at 
all,  twenty-three  were  not  specific  enough  to  be  classified. 
That  is,  they  did  not  give  expression  to  any  opinion  as  to  the 
particular  kind  of  preparation  to  which  the  prospective  sales- 
man should  subject  himself.  Most  of  them  left  off  with  giving 
a  nebulous  statement  relating  to  the  genius,  integrity,  the  reli- 
gious or  social  qualities  of  the  salesman.  It  appears  in  the  case 
of  salesmen  even  more  prominently  than  in  the  case  of  advertis- 
ing specialists  that  personal  qualities  appeal  to  many  business 
houses  as  the  prime  requisite  to  successful  salesmanship  rather 
than  a  particular  course  of  scientific  training  through  which  the 
candidate  may  have  passed. 

Of  the  forty-three  replies  subject  to  classification  the  follow- 
ing distribution  of  methods  of  preparation  for  salesmanship 
was  made: 

Practical  experience 18 

General  cultural  training 12 

Special  salesmanship  courses 13 

Nearly  42  per  cent  laid  the  emphasis  on  practical  experience, 
28  per  cent  on  general  cultural  training,  and  30  per  cent  on 
special  training  for  which  the  university  is  fitted. 

It  appears  that  the  business  houses  are  not  yet  convinced 
of  the  efficacy  of  scientific  salesmanship,  and  that,  the  burden 
of  proof  rests  with  the  universities.  Some  of  those  answering 
seem  to  be  extremely  skeptical  of  the  value  of  a  scientific  study 
of  salesmanship,  and  few,  if  any,  consider  it  more  than  an 
adjunct  whose  promise  of  usefulness  is  moderate. 

Question  number  five  is  stated  as  follows:  Can  we  get 
young  men  who  can  aid  our  business  by  thorough  knowledge 
and  study  of  transportation  routes  and  rates,  the  development 
of  new  markets  and  new  uses  for  our  products  ? 

Among  the  forty-five  definite  repHes  received,  the  diversity 
of  opinion  is  shown  in  the  table  on  following  page: 


88  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

No,  without  further  comment lo 

No,  with  a  slight  concession .' 2 

Yes,  without  further  comment 25 

Yes,  specifying  ''in  practical  field" 6 

Yes,  specifying  technical  university  study 2 

Twenty-seven  per  cent  of  those  making  definite  replies  gave 
negative  answers.  Some  of  them  may  have  misunderstood  the 
question,  thinking  that  it  related  to  a  present  supply  rather 
than  a  possible  future  supply  of  men  having  the  knowledge 
indicated.  At  any  rate,  fully  73  per  cent  believe  in  the  possi- 
bility of  securing  men  whose  studies  in  transportation  and 
market  conditions  will  enable  them  to  render  important  com- 
mercial service.  Six  of  those  answering  in  the  affirmative  stated 
that  the  knowledge  should  be  gained  "in  practical  field"  or 
"with  some  commercial  house."  While  only  two  specified  that 
they  thought  that  this  knowledge  should  be  derived  from  tech- 
nical university  study,  yet  the  statement  in  the  questionnaire, 
that  its  object  was  "  to  enable  the  University  of  Illinois  to  shape 
and  organize  its  course,"  justifies  us  in  regarding  an  affirmative 
answer  as  favorable  to  university  courses  along  the  designated 
lines.  Practically  all  who  insist  that  the  university  cannot  do 
this  work  successfully  have  doubtless  seen  the  necessity  of 
specifying  that  the  training  should  be  received  "in  the  practical 
field."  If  this  be  granted,  we  may  gather  from  the  replies  that 
approximately  60  per  cent  of  the  houses  answering  are  in  favor 
of  special  university  study  as  a  preparation  for  expert  com- 
mercial work  in  transportation,  the  opening  of  new  markets, 
and  the  discovery  of  new  uses  for  products. 

The  percentage  of  those  giving  definite  answers  in  favor  of 
special  university  courses  as  shown  by  the  returns  on  the  five 
questions  is  as  follows: 

Question  Subject  Unfvwslty  TrYiSin'? 

1  Office  assistants 34 

2  Cost  accountants 49 

3  Advertising  specialists 35 

4  Salesmen 30 

5  Experts  on  transportation,  new  markets,  and 

products 60 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS        89 

It  is  difficult  to  determine  beyond  doubt  to  what  degree  the 
above  figures  represent  the  views  of  all  the  members  of  the 
Illinois  Manufacturers'  Association.  The  fact  that  fewer  than 
one  out  of  ten  of  those  receiving  the  questionnaires  took  the 
trouble  to  mail  their  replies  should  not  be  overlooked.  It  may 
easily  be  true  that  a  larger  proportion  of  those  holding  views 
extremely  favorable  or  extremely  unfavorable  sent  their  replies 
than  those  holding  less  decided  views.  This  being  the  case  the 
replies  may  be  taken  to  be  fairly  representative  of  the  opinions 
prevailing  among  the  mem  )ers  of  the  Association  generally, 
although  no  more  than  a  fair  degree  of  representativeness  should 
be  claimed  for  them. 

Taking  the  returns  as  they  stand,  the  demand  for 
university-trained  office  assistants  is  voiced  by  one-third  of 
the  houses  answering  the  questionnaire.  Special  university 
training  for  accountants  is  requested  by  practically  one-half  the 
concerns.  Although  personality  and  talent  figure  greatly  in 
the  success  of  advertising  experts  and  salesmen,  about  one-third 
of  those  making  reply  favor  university  courses  to  qualify  men 
more  completely  for  this  work.  The  conduct  of  transportation, 
the  opening  of  new  markets,  and  the  better  disposal  of  products, 
60  per  cent  of  the  answering  houses  are  in  favor  of  placing  in  the 
hands  of  men  trained  in  special  university  courses. 

STATEMENT  4 

What  the  Exporter  Needs  That  the  Educator 
Can  Supply^ 

In  order  to  reach  the  highest  degree  of  business  efficiency 
there  must  be  a  groundwork  of  theory  supplemented  by  expe- 
rience and  practice.  We  recognize  this  truth  by  insisting  that 
one  of  the  schemes  of  our  national  life  shall  be  compulsory 
school  education.  As  to  the  point  to  which  school  education 
should  be  carried  in  order  to  fit  one  properly  to  take  up  the  duties 
of  commercial  life,  there  is  some  controversy,  but  there  is  no 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  a  pamphlet  by  E.  H.  Huxley,  president 
of  the  United  States  Rubber  Export  Company. 


go  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

question  as  to  the  necessity  of  at  least  some  theoretical  educa- 
tion and  probably  no  serious  dispute  that  this  should  be  carried 

at  least  through  the  grades  of  the  ordinary  high  school 

The  highest  degree  of  efficiency  cannot  be  obtained  wholly  by 
practical  experience  nor  wholly  by  theoretical  education.  If 
entire  reliance  is  placed  on  practical  experience  the  result  will 
be  the  same  as  with  a  man  who  commits  to  memory  certain 
problems  so  that  he  can  solve  them,  but  does  not  understand 
the  underlying  theories  which  enable  him  to  solve  other  prob- 
lems similar  in  principle  but  different  as  to  detail.  From 
practical  experience  a  man  may  be  able  to  conduct  certain 
branches  of  an  export  business,  such  for  example  as  the  account- 
ing or  traffic,  and  become  reasonably  proficient  up  to  the  point 
where  some  new  phase  presents  itself  or  some  new  condition 
arises  hitherto  not  present;  at  that  point  the  man  with  a  clear 
understanding  of  the  underlying  theories  will  be  able  to  apply 
them  practically  to  the  changed  conditions,  while  he  who  has 
only  carried  out  and  been  concerned  in  the  ordinary  routine 
will  probably  be  at  sea  and  wholly  unable  to  cope  with  the 
situation.  We  start  therefore  with  the  admission  that  the  com- 
bination of  a  theoretical  education  in  the  principles  and  underly- 
ing bases  of  certain  subjects,  with  a  later  practical  experience 
in  their  application,  is  essential  to  produce  the  best  results. 

The  question  then  is.  Exactly  what  is  wanted  from  the  educa- 
tor? Evidently  we  do  not  want  an  attempt  to  produce  a 
finished  product,  because  we  have  admitted  that  practical  expe- 
rience is  a  necessary  supplement;  therefore,  what  we  do  want  is 
the  theory.  The  subjects  which  might  be  covered  are  many, 
but  of  relative  importance,  and  the  necessary  subjects  would  be 
determined  by  the  completeness  desired  and  the  point  to  which 
it  is  desired  to  carry  the  education.  There  are  some  subjects 
which  are  essential  and  others  which  are  desirable  to  a  greater 
or  less  degree,  but  not  essential.  A  table  might  be  prepared 
indicating  the  subjects  to  be  considered,  somewhat  as  follows: 

1.  Ocean  Transportation  and  Rates,  including  the  various  docu- 
ments, invoices  and  papers 

2.  Insurance,  war  and  marine 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS        91 

3.  Foreign  Exchange  and  international  banking 

4.  Foreign  Credits 

5.  Tariff  Laws  and  Regulations 

6.  Packing,  Shipping  and  Marking  with  especial  reference  to  the 
needs  of  individual  countries 

7.  Foreign  Correspondence 

8.  Commercial  Geography 

9.  Languages 

10.  Advertising 

11.  Commercial  and  Political  History 

12.  Social  and  Political  Economy 

13.  Racial  Characteristics  and  Conditions 

14.  Statistics  and  Reports 

15.  Political  Science  and  Psychology 

This  list  is  not  intended  to  be  considered  as  necessarily 
complete  but  at  least  covers  the  main  essentials  and  some  of, 
what  might  be  termed,  the  luxuries  of  education.  Some  of  the 
subjects  present  singly  in  themselves  the  possibilities  of  a  life 
study  and  it  is  of  course  presupposed  that  their  study  is  not  to 
be  carried  beyond  reason.  The  general  subject  of  insurance,  for 
example,  may  in  itself  become  a  profession  and  it  is  obviously 
not  intended  that  a  requisite  for  the  proper  handling  of  insurance 
matters  in  an  export  business  should  undertake  a  professional 
knowledge  such  as  might  be  acquired  by  an  expert  in  devoting 
his  life  to  that  particular  subject.  The  insurance  department 
of  the  average  exporter  need  not  necessarily  be  handled  by 
a  professional  expert,  neither  would  the  general  accounting 
department  require  the  services  of  one  whose  knowledge  ex- 
tended to  the  point  required  or  desirable  in  an  international 
banker.  In  order,  however,  to  take  advantage  of  every  possi- 
bility to  make  money  and  in  order  to  conduct  the  various 
departments  with  the  greatest  ecnomy  and  the  highest  effi- 
ciency, a  theoretical  knowledge  of  the  underlymg  principles  of 
these  various  subjects  seems  to  me  to  be  essential;  this  knowl- 
edge to  be  supplemented  by  practical  experience. 

The  first  eight  subjects  appear  to  be  the  most  important 
and  to  be  really  essential;  the  others  to  be  undertaken  only  by 


92  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

him  who  desires  to  become  unusually  proficient,  more  so  perhaps 
than  might  be  considered  absolutely  necessary.  The  courses 
should,  I  think,  consist  mainly  of  lectures;  laboratory  work  or 
practical  examples  might  be  included  to  a  very  small  extent  but 
practical  application  should  come  in  the  practical  experience  in 
business.  It  is  not  intended  to  fix  any  particular  limit  to  the 
extent  to  which  the  subjects  should  be  studied,  other  than  possi- 
bly the  fixing  of  a  reasonable  amount  of  time  which  it  should 

be  necessary  to  expend  on  the  part  of  the  student It  is 

a  common  practice  to  enlist  the  services  of  business  men  as 
instructors;  this  is  all  right,  provided  those  men  have  grounded 
themselves  thoroughly  in  the  theory  of  the  subject,  but  the 
object  would  be  defeated  if  the  lectures  by  such  men  should  be 
only  a  history  of  their  own  practical  experience,  and  personally 
I  should  favor  the  choice  of  educators  who  have  made  the 
theory  of  the  various  subjects  a  study,  rather  than  business 
men  who  had  been  concerned  only,  or  largely,  in  their  own 
occupation. 

STATEMENT  5 
A  Statement  of  Department  Store  Needs^ 
Phase  I — Appearance 

Cleanliness  of  hands,  hair,  face,  nails,  shoes,  dress,  etc. 
Manners — courtesy. 

Approach — Now  and  later,  self-reliance,  decision. 
Speech—"  I  ain't  done  it "— "  it  don't." 

Phase  2 — Application 
Writing  1    . 
Spelling  )  ^''^'^'^ 
Truthfulness,  age,  salary,  experience. 
Complete  in  detail — give  test  blanks  of  questions  often. 
Cigarettes — slang,  gum. 

»By  Charles  P.  Avery,  of  Marshall  Field  &  Co.  Notes  sent  the 
author  as  the  "skeleton  of  an  address"  given  on  December  27,  191 7,  before 
the  National  Commercial  Teachers  Federation. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS 


93 


Phase  3 — Employee 
Loyalty 

Personality — develop  pleasing  smile  that  wins  friends. 
Fractions — percentage,  mechanical  speed,  fundamental  only. 
Dependable — listens — "Message  to  Garcia."    No  hesita- 
tion nor  miscarrying.     Discipliae. 
Patience — realization  business  is  a  continuation  of  school. 


STATEMENT  6 
What  Industry  Wants  from  the  Schools^ 

The  question  was  asked  three  times  this  morning  and  this 
afternoon  as  to  what  industry  wanted  from  the  schools,  and  I 
am  going  to  try  to  answer  that  question.  I  think  you  will 
anticipate  what  my  answers  are  to  be  from  what  I  have  already 
said.  Our  industries — our  company,  at  any  rate — ^wants  from 
the  public  schools,  from  the  colleges,  and  from  the  high  schools 
just  one  thing,  and  that  is  native  or  trained  ability  to  solve  new 
problems  right  the  first  time  they  are  presented.  Ability  to 
think.  If  I  might  split  that  up  a  little  bit,  we  will  call  it  origi- 
nality, initiative  and  judgment.  When  I  say  that,  I  am  presum- 
ing that  you  all  know  full  well  that  we  want  good  character. 
I  do  not  believe  we  need  to  discuss  that  point.  By  character, 
we  mean  it  in  its  very  broadest  sense,  a  fellow  who  is  courteous, 
who  is  considerate,  who  is  tolerant,  who  will  work  five  minutes 
overtime  in  order  to  save  an  hour  the  next  day,  or  will  work  for 
the  love  of  his  work,  and  does  not  quit  exactly  when  the  whistle 
blows.  I  have  called  that  co-operation.  I  do  not  think  there 
is  anything  more  important  than  that,  and  I  am  sure  that  we 
all  recognize  it  so  clearly  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  discuss  it. 

Then  we  want  just  a  very  little  bit  of  fundamental  informa- 
tion.   We  would  not  put  a  boy  who  had  been  taught  machine 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  C.  R.  Dooley  in  Fifth  Annual  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools  (191 7),  pp. 
192-93.  The  National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools  was  succeeded 
by  the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Training  which  has  since  been 
succeeded  by  the  National  Personnel  Association.  Reference  to  the  litera- 
ture will  be  according  to  the  name  of  the  association  at  the  time  of 
publication. 


94  .  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

tool  operation  and  nothing  else  into  a  portrait  painter's  shop;  he 
would  not  know  the  difference  between  a  screwdriver  and  a 
paint  palette,  so  he  does  need  a  little  bit  of  fundamental  informa- 
tion, but  that  is  on  the  end  of  the  list,  and  so  I  will  repeat  that 
we  want  initiative,  originality  and  judgment  along  with  the 
highest  type  of  character  in  its  fullest  sense.  I  would  even  go 
so  far  as  to  say  if  he  has  these  three  things,  which  may  be 
grouped  under  one  heading,  namely,  the  capacity  to  go  ahead 
and  solve  new  problems,  I  do  not  care  very  much  whether  he 
has  a  large  amount  of  specific  information.  If  a  girl  comes  into 
the  office  as  a  stenographer,  it  is  of  little  importance  to  us 
whether  she  can  write  sixty  words  a  minute  on  the  typewriter, 
and  take  down  her  notes  at  one  hundred  words  per  minute  and 
transcribe  everything  you  dictate,  and  transcribe  it  exactly 
as  you  dictate  it.  It  is  far  more  important  if  she  has  a  capacity 
for  quick  comprehension  about  our  business,  gathering  the 
essential  elements  of  our  business,  and  whether  she  has  good 
judgment  of  the  construction  of  a  letter,  so  that  by  and  by,  as 
she  gets  worked  into  the  organization  and  some  man  dictates  a 
letter  hurriedly,  she  can  at  the  right  time  suggest  that  the  letter 
is  not  clear  and  should  be  rephrased  in  certain  particulars.  The 
other  day  I  turned  a  letter  over  to  a  new  girl  in  our  office,  who 
had  not  been  there  very  long,  and  asked  her  what  she  thought 
of  the  letter,  a  letter  some  other  firm  had  turned  out,  and  she 
said  that  the  letter  looked  neat,  and  was  a  very  nice  letter.  I 
said:  "I  don't  care  how  it  looks,  is  it  clear,  do  you  understand 
it,  is  it  a  good  forcible  letter  ?  "  That  is  the  idea  which  is  typical 
of  the  capacity  which  we  want  in  all  kinds  of  people. 

STATEMENT  7 
What  Public  Educational  Institutions  Should  Not  Attempt^ 

Personally,  I  believe  that  the  matter  of  vocational  educa- 
tion is  in  danger  of  being  carried  too  far,  and  that  we  may  lose 
sight  of  the  broad  general  purpose  and  aims  of  education. 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  L.  E,  Barringer,  General  Electric  Co.,  in 
Sixth  Annual.  Proceedings  of  the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools 
(1918),  pp.  261-62. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS        95 

Applying  vocational  education  to  young  men  and  women  to 
render  them  efficient  and  competent  workmen  does  not  necessarily 
educate  them  for  all  the  needs  of  life,  nor  will  the  best  voca- 
tional training  make  the  most  efficient  and  competent  workmen. 

Vocational  education  may  become  too  subdivided,  special 
and  narrow.  In  this  city  I  have  personally  opposed  the  exten- 
sion of  the  manual  training  course  to  the  fifth  and  sixth  grades 
as  a  step  too  far. 

It  is  not  enough  that  a  young  man  should  be  taught  to 
manipulate  his  hands  skilfully  in  order  to  become  a  good  me- 
chanic or  carpenter,  nor  is  this  necessarily  sufficient  for  the 
employer  of  such  a  man.  He  should  be  alert  and  possess  a  full 
realization  of  the  meaning  of  his  work  and  of  the  broader  oppor- 
tunities for  himself  in  the  entire  field  of  which  his  job  is  a  part. 

We  need  more  inspirational  teaching,  more  education  of 
the  young  for  the  broad  essential  needs  of  life.  They  should  be 
impressed  with  the  value  of  health,  vigor,  co-operation,  energy, 
and  with  the  need  of  continued  acquisition  of  knowledge  and 
skill  after  school  days  have  been  finished.  For  herein  lie  the 
foundations  of  "efficient,  capable  workmen,"  just  as  much,  if 
not  more  so,  than  in  the  highly  specialized  knowledge  imparted 
in  the  training  for  the  mechanical  arts. 

STATEMENT  8 
What  Business  Wants  from  the  Schools' 

The  work  of  the  committee  on  public  education  has  been 
based  more  on  agreed  facts  than  on  newly  gathered  data.  We 
have  found  sufficient  agreement  as  to  lack  of  effective  work  on 
the  part  of  the  public  schools  and  enough  misunderstanding  on 
the  part  of  employers  so  that  we  have  deemed  it  wise  to  begin 
work  on  the  following  basis: 

a)  The  public  schools  are  burdened  with  subjects  for  instruc- 
tion which  have  accumulated  from  year  to  year  and  which,  no 

'Adapted  by  permission  from  "Report  of  Committee  on  Public  Edu- 
cation," Fourth  Annual  Proceedings  of  the  National  Association  of  Corporation 
Schools  (1916),  pp.  233-34,  and  the  Ninth  Annual  Proceedings  (1921), 
pp.  134-36. 


96  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

matter  how  desirable  singly,  have  demanded  so  much  time  and 
attention  that  they  have  diminished  the  time  and  drill  formerly 
given  to  more  fundamental  subjects. 

b)  The  demands  of  the  world  on  educational  systems  have 
steadily  grown.  A  higher  type  of  intelligence  is  needed  each 
successive  year  in  all  vocations,  and  yet  industrial  growth  has 
made  necessary  the  employment  of  men  farther  and  farther 
down  the  social  scale. 

c)  The  demands  of  industry  and  commerce  for  trained 
employees  have  never  been  logically  classified. 

d)  The  duty  of  the  public  school  is  to  train  young  people 
in  whatever  subjects  are  of  general  importance  to  large  groups 
of  people. 

e)  The  duty  of  the  so-called  corporation  school  is  to  train 
specific  workers  for  the  diversified  tasks  which  they  must  meet. 

/)  Temporarily  it  appears  necessary  in  many  instances  for 
the  corporation  schools  to  parallel  the  work  of  the  public  schools 
and  to  repeat  work  which  has  not  been  done  effectively  by  them. 

A  discussion  of  the  subject  has  brought  out  the  following 
classifications  of  the  activities  of  the  public  schools: 

a)  Those  subjects  which  will  probably  be  useful  to  help  the 
graduate  earn  a  living. 

h)  Those  which  teach  the  appreciation  of  things  which  are 
not  necessities. 

c)  Recreation,  preferably  spelled  "re-creation." 

Many  subjects  overlap  two  or  all  of  these  classifications,  as, 
for  example,  music,  which  may  be  taught  as  a  probable  future 
means  of  livelihood  through  execution,  as  a  means  of  apprecia- 
tion of  the  masters,  or  as  a  purely  re-creative  respite  from  the 
daily  round  of  work. 

The  first  step  in  considering  possible  changes  in  public 
education  is  to  determine  the  relative  value  of  the  various  sub- 
jects of  public  school  instruction  with  the  pupils'  future  as  a 
citizen,  a  member  of  society,  and  a  producer  in  mind. 

His  value  as  a  member  of  society  depends,  of  course,  in  a 
large  measure  on  his  ability  to  produce  enough  to  make  him 
independent  of  his  fellow-men,  to  house  and  clothe  him  in  com- 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS         97 

fort,  and  to  feed  him  well  enough  so  that  he  can  take  real 
satisfaction  in  the  appreciation  of  the  artistic  things  with  which 
our  modem  life  surrounds  him. 

The  pressure  of  the  forward  march  of  inventive  science  has 
made  necessary  for  producers  a  training  which  could  not  have 
been  predicted  a  few  years  ago.  It  is  entirely  possible  that 
much  of  the  discontent  which  has  been  expressed  both  by  lay- 
men and  professional  instructors  with  regard  to  the  present 
state  of  public  schools  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  strides  which 
business  has  made  have  not  been  matched  by  those  of  the  schools 
which,  in  many  instances,  have  not  found  themselves  with 
money  enough  to  take  care  of  the  increased  number  of  pupils, 
to  say  nothing  of  making  progress  in  the  science  of  education. 

As  a  basis  for  discussion  before  the  Association,  the  follow- 
ing rough  classification  of  the  studies  which  are  most  commonly 
included  in  the  grammar  school  curriculum  has  been  prepared. 
No  amount  of  preparation  of  data  or  other  statistical  study  can 
possibly  accomplish  so  much  in  determining  the  value  of  this 
division  as  an  open  discussion,  so  this  matter  is  presented  with 
the  distinct  desire  to  provoke  discussion  and  not  as  a  finding  of 
this  committee. 

a)  The  following  are  of  value  to  the  very  great  majority  of 
all  pupils  for  their  practical  use  in  everyday  and  business  life: 

Reading 

Mathematics  (especially  arithmetic) 

Penmanship 

English,  spoken  and  written 

This  list  is  practically  the  three  R's,  if  writing  is  held  to  include 
correct  writing  of  the  language  as  well  as  penmanship.  It  is  a 
very  brief  list,  but  it  is  presented  as  covering  the  subjects  which 
employers  of  our  boys  and  girls  agree  on  as  necessities. 

b)  The  following  subjects  are  of  large  value  because  they 
tend  to  enlarge  the  appreciative  powers  of  the  pupils  and  because 
they  have  a  re-creative  effect: 

History 

Music 

Freehand  Drawing 


98  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Physiology 

Nature  Study 

Science  (bearing  in  mind  this  is  for  grammar  schools 

only) 
Chemistry  (bearing  in  mind  this  is  for  grammar  schools 

only) 

c)  Certain  other  subjects  including: 

Civics 
Geography 
Physical  Culture 
Mechanical  Drawing 
Manual  Training 

appear  to  offer  possibilities  in  the  way  of  training  that  combines 
something  of  the  function  of  both  of  the  above. 

The  teaching  of  a  certam  portion  of  civics  which  is  usually 
given  rather  little  consideration,  that  of  the  future  relation  of 
the  pupil  himself  to  society,  is  or  should  be  of  intense  value 
to  the  nation  and  especially  to  its  industries  and  commerce. 
Instead  of  that,  our  children  are  taught  much  about  the  higher 
functions  of  government,  and  the  machinery  of  courts  and  legis- 
latures with  which  most  of  them  have  little  later  opportunity 
to  come  in  contact. 

Geography,  especially  that  of  the  immediate  locality,  city 
and  county,  has  a  great  value.  It  is  desirable  that  he  should 
be  initiated  mto  the  use  of  maps,  so  that  he  can  trace  means  of 
travel  and  freight  routes  from  one  point  to  another. 

Physical  culture,  in  the  sense  of  bringing  up  a  rugged  lot  of 
children  in  place  of  spindly,  flat-chested  youths,  lacking  in 
endurance,  is  something  much  to  be  desired.  It  is  hardly  a 
part  of  the  classroom  instruction,  however,  but  rather  a  part 
of  the  recreation,  which  now  too  often  consists  in  hanging  over 
a  schoolyard  fence,  surreptitiously  smoking  cigarettes.  Its  value 
is  incalculable,  but  it  is  best  taught  by  recreation,  as  witness 
the  work  of  the  Boy  Scouts  and  other  outdoor  organizations. 

The  above  statements  appear  to  be  borne  out  by  the  results 
of  a  questionnaire,  which  was  sent  to  the  members  of  the  Associa- 
tion, a  copy  of  which  is  annexed  to  this  report.     This  brought 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS        99 

out  between  5,000  and  6,000  individual  replies  to  specific 
questions,  so  that  it  may  be  presumed  to  represent  as  a  whole 
the  well-thought-out  opinion  of  large  employers  of  labor. 

It  appears  that  we  are  unanimous  in  thinking  that  the 
following  subjects  are  of  prime  necessity: 

Addition.     Whole  numbers 

Subtraction.     Common  fractions 

Multiplication  of  decimal  fractions 

Division 

Percentage 

Simple  interest 

Reading 

Penmanship 

English  composition 

Business  English 

Spelling  usual  words 

These  in  themselves  form  a  pretty  well-rounded  education,  but 
to  this  60  per  cent  of  our  answers  would  add  for  certain  parts  of 
their  organization: 

Proportion 

Compound  interest 

SpeUing  of  technical  words 

Geography  (Physical  and  Commercial) 

U.S.  History  (Political) 

Physiology 

Civics  (intimate  relations  of  people  with  their  government) 

The  following  subjects  are  apparently  considered  of  little 
or  no  value  by  70  per  cent  of  the  members  who  answered  these 
questions: 

Cube  root 

Music  (vocal  and  reading) 

Science 

Chemistry 

Principles  of  Government 

Foreign  languages 

When  the  above  statements  are  discussed,  we  expect  to  hear 
decided  exceptions  taken  to  the  apparent  relegation  of  subjects 
like  history,  music,  and  freehand  drawing  to  the  position  of 


lOO  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

re-creative  or  appreciative  subjects.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
seems  as  if  the  present  taste  of  the  American  people  for  ragtime 
music  might  be  a  protest  against  the  school  methods  of  teaching 
music  and  the  abominable  taste  that  is  shown  in  what  might 
equally  well  be  artistic  millinery,  a  protest  against  the  method 
of  teaching  drawing.  In  other  words,  has  the  teaching  of  these 
subjects  for  many  years  past  had  an  uplifting  effect  on  the 
American  people  ? '  History,  too,  if  studied  merely  as  a  chronicle 
of  the  dead  past,  possibly  has  not  had  the  effect  for  which  we 
have  been  seeking.  Should  not  history  be  studied  in  search 
for  the  inspiration  and  encouragement  which  it  may  give  us, 
rather  than  for  the  memorizing  of  facts,  many  of  them  most 
lamentable  ? 

The  classification  which  we  have  offered  of  the  different 
forms  of  drawing  may  also  arouse  discussion,  as  may  also  our 
entire  omission  of  manual  training  from  among  the  subjects  of 
earning  value.  It  may,  however,  be  argued  that  every  form 
of  drawing  and  every  principle  taught  in  manual  training  is  an 
underlying  principle  of  some  trade  or  profession,  which  is  of 
vital  commercial  importance  to  those  who  make  their  living 
by  its  practice,  and  as  such  they  become  subjects  of  special 
training  which  may  very  well  be  the  work  of  a  corporation 
school. 

If,  however,  these  matters  are  made  a  part  of  the  curriculum 
of  the  public  schools,  the  time  which  can  be  allotted  to  them 
is  so  small  and  the  number  of  pupils  who  can  see  a  future  value 
in  them  is  so  limited,  that  little  of  value  can  be  expected,  except 
as  they  may  create  ability  to  appreciate  the  work  of  others,  or 
may  be  a  means  of  re-creation. 

The  boy  who  makes  a  piece  of  furniture  by  old  and  laborious 
methods  which  would  not  be  tolerated  in  modern  manufacture, 
has  not  taken  any  appreciable  steps  toward  becoming  an  expert 
workman,  but  he  may  have  discovered  that  the  expert  workman 
is  a  man  possessed  of  skill  which  he  should  and  can  appreciate. 
He  has  also,  in  the  course  of  his  work,  had  a  combination  of 
mental  and  manual  exercise,  which  is  valuable  from  the 
re-creative  standpoint,  if  no  other. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS r.  Dlit^GT  KJIPR^ESSlC^S:  .   loi 

STATEMENT  9 
Some  Evidence  from  New  York  and  Pittsburgh^ 

The  evidence  of  the  business  world  is  against  the  assumption 
that  clerical  training  is  the  main  objective  of  commercial  educa- 
tion. Business  men  in  particular  do  not  assert  that  this  con-  > 
ception  is  sound.  Through  the  courtesy  of  the  New  York 
Chamber  of  Commerce  some  evidence  bearing  upon  this  point 
was  secured  during  February  and  March  of  the  current  year 
(191 2).  A  circular  letter  was  sent  to  about  a  hundred  of  the 
largest  commercial  houses  of  New  York  City. 

A  few  quotations  from  typical  replies  from  New  York  busi- 
ness men  may  be  given  here:  "We  employ  no  male  stenog- 
raphers. Occasionally  we  can  use  a  business  school  graduate 
in  our  bookkeeping  department.  The  study  of  business  prin- 
ciples ought  to  be  of  value."  ''For  the  majority  of  positions 
in  our  employ  we  should  prefer  that  he  had  a  knowledge  of  the 
other  subjects  named  by  you."  "A  knowledge  of  stenography 
and  typewriting  would  be  necessary  in  filling  certain  positions 
where  a  male  stenographer  was  desired.  In  our  particular 
business  a  knowledge  of  bookkeeping  as  it  is  generally  taught 
in  high  schools  might  in  some  cases  be  helpful,  but  hardly  ever 
absolutely  necessary.  A  study  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  business,  such  as  merchandising,  advertising,  salesmanship, 
and  business  organization  would  in  general  seem  to  be  more 
valuable  to  young  men  than  specialization  upon  clerical  sub- 
jects." 

This  same  study  was  made  in  Pittsburgh  with  somewhat 
similar  results  respecting  the  relative  importance  of  fundamental 
and  clerical  subjects.  Of  those  replying,  32  per  cent  think  that 
bookkeeping  alone  is  essential;  28  per  cent  state  that  all  three 
are  necessary;  19  per  cent  think  that  none  of  the  three  subjects 
is  essential;  15  per  cent  think  that  penmanship  is  essential; 
II  per  cent  think  that  mathematics  is  necessary;  11  per  cent 
consider  a  knowledge  of  good  English  indispensable;  8  per  cent 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  F.  V.  Thompson,  Commercial  Education 
in  Public  Secondary  Schools,  pp.  106-8.    World  Book  Co.  1915. 


/ 


/ 


'Sin 


1024*,  f  1/1  vl .    ;EDtrCAl1^N  JFOR  BUSINESS 


think  that  arithmetic  is  valuable;  4  per  cent  state  that  type- 
writing and  bookkeeping  are  necessary;  3  per  cent  think  that 
designing  and  advertising  are  valuable. 

STATEMENT  10 
What  Is  Commercial  Education?^ 

Not  long  ago,  in  an  educational  paper  of  some  standing, 
I  noticed  that  the  business  college  was  merely  a  clerk  factory  to 
turn  out  business  assistants,  but  that  the  aim  of  the  high  school 
was  to  turn  out  business  men.  I  suppose  the  writer  should 
have  said,  to  carry  out  his  thought,  successful  business  men. 
This  statement,  with  some  variation,  has  been  repeated  fre- 
quently and  has  been  made  a  great  deal  of.  But  to  me  it  is  an 
expression  without  definite  meaning.  What  is  a  business  man  ? 
Is  he  a  wholesale  or  retail  merchant?  A  banker?  An 
exporter  ?  A  raikoad  manager  ?  A  manufacturer  ?  A  clerk  ? 
A  bookkeeper  ?  A  commercial  traveller  ?  It  seems  to  me  that 
anyone  who  is  engaged  in  any  occupation  arising  from  the 
exchange  of  commodities  is  essentially  a  business  man,  and  if 
he  succeeds  he  is  a  successful  business  man.  The  successful 
business  man  owes  his  success  sometimes  to  his  education,  but 
more  often  to  his  tact  and  special  knowledge  of  the  business  in 
which  he  is  engaged.  All  that  the  commercial  high  school  can 
do  for  its  pupils  is  to  teach  them  to  use  the  tools  of  business,  in 
order  that  the  natural  gifts  in  a  business  way  which  they  all 
possess  in  some  measure  may  be  developed  and  their  value 
increased.  A  competent  business  man,  as  such,  cannot  be  made 
in  a  school.  Many  men  who  have  the  best  instruction  possible 
do  not  succeed  in  business  because  so  many  things  besides 
education  are  necessary  to  insure  success.  Business  ability 
is  inherited.  Some  families — nay,  some  races — seem  to  be 
endowed  with  the  commercial  instinct. 

What  is  a  commercial  education  ?  I  well  know  a  successful 
bank  president  and  financier  who  cannot  keep  a  simple  set  of 
books;  a  prominent  business  man  of  my  acquaintance  received 

» Adapted  from  Great  Britain  Special  Reports  on  Education,  Vol.  II, 
Part  2,  pp.  327-28.    Board  of  Education,  1902. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS       103 

all  the  business  training  he  ever  had  as  a  journalist;  another,  in 
the  classical  course  of  a  university;  another  received  a  liberal 
high-school  course;  another,  an  elementary-school  education; 
and  another — a  most  successful  business  man — had  no  school 
education  at  all.  There  were  successful  business  men  in  former 
generations;  there  are  splendid  business  men  today  who  never 
had  the  special  training  the  commercial  high-school  course 
proposes  to  give,  though  some  of  them  have  had  the  advantages 
of  a  business-college  course.  It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  that 
any  education  which  a  business  man  has,  and  which  makes  him 
a  better  business  man,  is  for  him  a  business  education,  no  matter 
whether  it  was  obtained  iq  the  walls  of  a  school  or  not. 

Now,  it  seems  to  me  there  is  nothing  mysterious  in  this  ques- 
tion, and  there  has  been  no  great  discovery  lately  as  to  what 
constitutes  a  business  education.  We  are  merely  beginning  to 
realize  its  value  and  necessity  today,  and  the  great  danger  of 
failure  in  our  commercial  courses  lies  in  our  desire  to  do  so 
much  for  our  pupils  that  we  over-estimate  the  value  of  some 
parts  of  the  courses  we  would  offer,  and  by  endeavoring  to 
accomplish  too  much  fail  to  provide  a  sensible,  practical  and 
workable  curriculmn.  Our  laudable  desire  to  have  a  great 
school  should  not  obscure  the  need  of  having  a  good  school. 

STATEMENT  11 
The  Demands  of  Modern  Business^ 
The  mental  equipment  of  a  business  man  needs  to  be  greater 
to-day  than  was  ever  before  necessary.  Just  as  the  sphere  of  a 
business  man's  actions  has  broadened  with  the  advent  of  rapid 
transportation,  telegraphs,  cables,  and  telephones,  so  has  the 
need  for  broad  understanding  of  sound  principles  increased. 
It  was  steam  processes  of  transportation  and  production  that 
really  made  technical  education  necessary.  The  electric 
dynamo  created  the  demand  for  technically  educated  electrical 
engineers.     So  the  railroad,  the  fast  steamship,   the  electric 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  F.  A.  Vanderlip,  Business  and  Edtica- 
tion,  pp.  15-19.     Dufl&eld  Co.,  1907. 


I04  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

current  in  the  telephone  and  cable,  and  the  great  economic  fact 
of  gigantic  and  far-reaching  business  combinations,  are  making 
the  science  of  business  a  different  thing  for  any  conception  of 
commerce  which  could  have  been  had  when  Girard  was  the  most 
successful  of  American  business  men.  The  enlarged  scope  of 
business  is  demanding  better  trained  men — men  who  under- 
stand principles.  New  forces  have  made  possible  large  scale 
production,  and  we  need  men  who  can  comprehend  the  relation 
of  that  production  to  the  world's  markets.  There  has  been 
introduced  such  complexity  into  modern  business,  and  such  a 
high  degree  of  specialization,  that  the  young  man  who  begins 
without  the  foundation  of  an  exceptional  training  is  in  danger 
of  remaining  a  mere  clerk  or  bookkeeper.  Commercial  and 
industrial  affairs  are  conducted  on  so  large  a  scale  that  the 
neophyte  has  little  chance  to  learn  broadly  either  by  observa- 
tion or  experience.  He  is  put  at  a  single  task.  The  more 
expert  he  becomes  at  it,  the  more  likely  it  is  that  he  will  be  kept 
at  it  unless  he  has  had  a  training  in  his  youth  which  has  fitted 
him  to  comprehend  in  some  measure  the  relation  of  his  task  to 
those  which  others  are  doing. 

Conditions  have  vastly  changed.  A  new  order  of  equipment 
is  demanded.  The  staunchness  of  character,  the  same  intrepid 
will,  today  will  play  their  part  as  they  played  it  then,  but  in 
addition  there  is  now  demanded  a  breadth  of  technical  knowl- 
edge, a  fund  of  specialized  information,  a  comprehension  of 
intricate  relations,  and  an  understanding  of  broad  principles 
which  the  conditions  of  a  century  or  even  a  generation  ago  did 
not  make  imperative. 

STATEMENT  12 

A  Plea  for  a  Larger  Vision  of  Commercial  Education^ 

In  the  last  analysis  commerce  and  industry  are  vast  social 
forces  originating  and  being  maintained  and  made  possible  in 
and  by  collective  human  activity  gathered  together  in  communi- 

'  Adapted  by  permission  from  Dr.  Paul  Kreuzpointner,  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  Company,  in  the  Sixth  Annual  Proceedings  of  the  National  Asso- 
ciation of  Corporation  Schools  (1918),  pp.  293-95. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS       105 

ties  and  united  into  the  nation.  The  reaction  of  these  vast 
collective  enterprises  upon  communities  changes  the  habits, 
customs,  and  usages  of  the  people.  It  raises  or  lowers  the  moral, 
poHtical,  intellectual,  educational,  aesthetic  and  physical  stand- 
ard of  populations  according  to  the  greater  or  less  skill  and 
knowledge  required  to  carry  on  these  enterprises  or  the  intellec- 
tual standard  favored  and  maintained  among  the  millions  of 
industrial  workers  in  shop,  factory,  store  and  office 

High-grade  as  the  New  York  commercial  course  of  study 
is,  it  nowhere  articulates  or  co-ordinates  business  interests  and 
their  human  agents  with  the  silent,  slow-working  but  all- 
powerful  social,  economical,  cultural  and  ethical  forces  outside 
of  the  store,  and  which  forces  are  the  basis  of  the  prosperity  or 
adversity  of  all  business  transactions  in  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence. Thus,  by  the  irony  of  fate  and  a  short-sighted  concep- 
tion of  the  relation  of  commercial  and  industrial  enterprises  to 
society,  community  and  national  welfare,  these  enterprises 
contribute  to  keep  our  schools  upon  a  lower  standard  than  they 
would  be  if  business  and  industry  were  not  satisfied  with  a  purely 
utilitarian  educational  product.  Thus,  we  have  the  anomalous 
condition  that  individually  and  as  citizens  the  managers  of 
business  enterprises  clamor  for  educational  progress  but  in  their 
official  capacity  they  retard  and  hinder  that  progress  by  reject- 
ing anything  in  the  line  of  educational  product  as  useless  and 
impractical  that  does  not  contribute  in  the  shortest  way  to 
utilitarian  ends.  In  this  attempt  to  separate  the  educational 
business  interests  from  the  educational,  social  and  civic  inter- 
ests we  may  find  the  source  of  much  of  the  prevailing  misunder- 
standing, suspicion,  lack  of  confidence,  and  retardation,  between 
school  and  industrial  and  commercial  enterprises. 

Moreover,  the  traditional  American  high  school  was  destined 
and  organized  as  a  preparatory  school  for  college  and  is  still 
considered  in  that  light.  Hence,  commercial  education,  voca- 
tional education,  and  domestic  science  are  simply  annexes  and 
are  treated  as  such  and  therefore  not  accorded  the  time,  the 
teachers,  the  laboratories  and  financial  support  needed  to  give 
them  the  constructive  value  which  they  ought  to  have. 


Io6  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Are  there  no  culturizing,  civilizing  elements  in  our  vast 
commercial  and  industrial  enterprises  worth  cultivating  in 
addition  to  methods  for  training  clerks  and  mechanics  and  semi- 
skilled workers  ? 

Society,  which  is  represented  by  national  organization  and 
institutions,  cannot  maintain  its  orderly  government  and  stand- 
ard of  civilization  for  any  length  of  time  with  only  vocationally 
trained  workers,  clerks,  salesmen  and  women,  etc.,  without  any, 
or  at  best  only  a  narrow  conception  of  the  workings  of  the  larger, 
broader  social  and  civic  forces  with  rights,  attendant  duties  and 
responsibilities.  And  contrariwise  an  ever  so  highly  cultured 
and  socially  trained  society  cannot  exist  without  a  thorough 
vocational  and  commercial  training  for  occupational  efficiency. 

The  late  Dr.  W.  T.  Harris,  United  States  Commissioner  of 
Education,  once  defined  civilization  as  follows:  "A  people  is 
civilized  when  it  has  formed  institutions  ior  itself,  which  enable 
each  individual  to  profit  by  the  industry  of  all  his  fellow- 
citizens;  when  it  enables  each  individual  to  profit  by  the  experi- 
ence and  wisdom,  the  observations  and  the  thoughts  of  his 
fellow-citizens;  when  it  encourages  each  individual  into  a  rational 
self-activity  by  which  he  contributes,  either  through  his  industry 
or  through  his  observations  and  thoughts,  to  the  benefit  of  the 
people  with  whom  he  lives."  Is  an  education,  vocational  or 
commercial,  which  serves  utilitarian  ends  exclusively,  able  to 
maintain  such  a  standard  of  civilization  ? 

STATEMENT  13 

The  Attitude  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  toward 
Industrial  Education* 

Do  I  know  what  industrial  education  is,  and  what  are  its 
purposes  and  ideals?  But  since  my  personal  knowledge  is  of 
very  little  consequence  to  anyone,  except  as  a  sort  of  reflex  of 
the  knowledge  of  the  miUions  of  workers,  the  question  is,  in 
fact,  Does  organized  labor  understand  what  industrial  education 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  Samuel  Gk)mpers,  president  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  in  Bulletin  of  the  National  Society  for  Promo- 
tion of  Industrial  Education,  19 14,  No.  20,  pp.  107-13. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS      107 

is,  and  what  are  its  purposes  and  ideals?  Finally,  if  it  does 
understand  these  purposes  and  ideals,  Does  it  approve  of  them 
and  will  it  co-operate  sincerely  in  the  development  of  tried  and 
proven  rational  schemes  of  industrial  education  ? 

You  should  know  that  organized  labor  does  not  oppose  the 
development  of  industrial  education  in  the  public  schools.  Indeed 
that  would  not  at  all  fairly  indicate  the  attitude  of  organized 
labor.  I  say  to  you  that  the  organization  constituting  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  have  been  for  years  engaged  in 
the  work  of  systematically  providing  industrial  education  to 
their  members.  This  instruction  has  been  given  through  the 
medium  of  the  trade  union  journals  and  schools  established  and 
maintained  by  them.  Organized  labor,  I  repeat,  is  not  opposed 
to  industrial  education.  It  is  eager  to  co-operate  actively  in 
instituting  industrial  education  in  our  public  schools.  The 
working  man  has  too  little  time,  and  can  therefore  take  but 
little  interest  in  any  other  sort  of  education. 

Organized  labor  cannot  favor  any  scheme  of  industrial 
education  which  is  lop-sided — ^any  scheme,  that  is  to  say,  which 
will  bring  trained  men  into  any  given  trade  without  regard  to 
the  demands  for  labor  in  that  trade.  Industrial  education  must 
maintain  a  fair  and  proper  apportionment  of  the  supply  of  labor 
power  to  the  demand  for  labor  power  in  every  line  of  work.  Other- 
wise its  advantages  will  be  entirely  neutralized.  If,  for  example, 
the  result  of  industrial  education  is  to  produce  in  any  community 
a  greater  number  of  trained  machinists  than  are  needed  in  the 
community,  those  machinists  which  have  been  trained  cannot 
derive  any  benefit  from  their  training,  since  they  will  not  be 
able  to  find  employment  except  at  economic  disadvantages. 
Under  these  conditions  industrial  education  is  of  no  advantage 
to  those  who  have  received  it,  and  it  is  a  distinct  injury  to  the 
journeymen  working  at  the  trade  who  are  subjected  to  a  keen 
competition  artificially  produced.  Industrial  education  must 
meet  the  needs  of  the  worker  as  well  as  the  requirements  of 
the  employer. 

Organized  labor  has  always  opposed  and  will  continue  to 
oppose  sham  industrial  edtication,  whether  at  public  or  private 


io8  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

expense.  It  has  opposed  and  will  continue  to  oppose  that 
superficial  training  which  confers  no  substantial  benefit  upon 
the  worker,  which  does  not  make  him  a  craftsman,  but  only 
an  interloper,  which  may  be  available  in  times  of  crisis,  perhaps, 
as  a  strike  breaker,  but  not  as  a  trained  artisan  for  industrial 
service  at  other  times.  Industrial  education  must  train  men 
for  work,  not  for  private  and  sinister  corporation  purposes. 

STATEMENT  14 
What  Labor  Wants  from  Educations 

Hitherto  the  working  class  has  never  been  seriously  con- 
sulted as  to  what  it  wants  from  education  or  what  it  believes 
ought  to  be  the  true  aims  of  education.  Governments,  con- 
tending parties,  education  institutions,  and  influential  sections 
of  the  community  having  definite  views  as  to  the  place  of  the 
working  class  in  their  scheme  of  life  have  conceded  to  it  a  mini- 
mum of  what  they  conceived  to  be  for  its  good. 

As  a  natural  result,  the  education  provided  for  working 
people  has  been  very  limited  in  quantity,  while  the  system  has 
been  so  permeated  by  an  atmosphere  of  commercialism  as 
seriously  to  vitiate  the  quality. 

The  same  spirit  can  be  discerned  in  many  of  the  utterances 
of  those  who  are  now  demanding  educational  reform.  Their 
dominating  idea  is  still  that  of  increasing  our  industrial  efl5- 
ciency.  The  working  class  is  still  to  fit  in  with  preconceived 
notions  as  to  its  proper  place  in  a  generally  accepted  scheme 
of  things,  and  educational  reform  is  only  to  concern  itself  with 
equipping  the  workers  to  become  more  efiicient  bees  in  the 
industrial  hive.  This  is  a  positive  danger  which  the  W.E.A. 
must  be  prepared  to  encounter. 

For  thirteen  years  our  Association  has  been  steadily  pre- 
paring the  ground  for  the  time  when  working  people  themselves 
should  say,  and  with  no  uncertain  voice,  what  they  want  from 
education  and  what  they  conceive  ought  to  be  its  true  aim  and 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  J.  M.  Mactavish,  What  Labor  Wants 
from  Education,  pp.  i-8.  The  Workers  Educational  Association,  14,  Red 
Lion  Square,  Holbom,  W.C,  1916. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS       109 

purpose.  Only  by  having  clear  ideas  on  these  matters  can  we 
hope  to  counter  the  aims  of  the  commercialists. 

Within  the  limits  of  inherent  capacity,  education  can  give 
us  what  we  want.  Viewed  broadly,  all  that  man  is,  apart  from 
heredity,  is  due  to  education.  It  is  therefore  necessary  that 
labour  should  have  an  educational  ideal.  That  ideal  must  take 
into  consideration  the  needs  of  the  individual,  the  needs  of  the 
class,  the  needs  of  the  nation,  and  the  needs  of  the  race.  In  a 
perfect  society  it  would  be  possible  for  education  to  harmonise 
fully  all  these  conflicting  needs.  But  in  the  world  as  it  is  to-day, 
it  is  necessary,  in  order  to  arrive  at  an  ideal,  that  is  a  reasonable 
induction  from  established  facts,  to  consider  the  special  needs  of 
each.  A  Tutorial  Class  syllabus  would  be  an  absurdity  in 
Crusoe's  curriculum  when  teaching  his  man  Friday.  The  free 
development  of  the  individual  is  as  inconsistent  with  the  East- 
ern ideal  of  fitting  a  man  to  occupy  his  predestined  place  in  a 
caste  bound  society  as  a  purely  vocational  education  is  in  a 
democratic  state. 

Let  us  now  examine  these  needs  more  closely. 

The  need  of  the  individual. — The  need  of  the  individual  is 
the  development  of  those  inherent  qualities  with  which  heredity 
endowed  him  and  which,  when  fully  developed,  make  per- 
sonaUty. 

The  needs  of  the  class.—The.  working  class  has  its  own 
peculiar  educational  needs.  The  material  prizes  of  life  are 
limited,  and  only  a  few  can  win  them.  After  all  the  prizes  have 
been  won  there  still  remains  the  great  mass  for  whom  under 
existing  conditions  there  are  not  material  prizes  other  than  work 
and  wages.  These  form  the  working  class,  and  as  such  have 
educational  needs  pecuHarly  their  own. 

Since,  under  the  existing  state  of  society,  the  vast  majority 
are  wage-earners,  education  must  give  them  a  knowledge  and  a 
clearer  understanding  of  the  social  and  economic  forces  that 
mould  and  mar  their  lives.  Only  through  a  fuller  knowledg^e 
and  a  clearer  understanding  of  these  can  the  workers  attain  to 
economic  and  social  freedom.  Further,  since  the  experiences 
of  the  past  ages  are  embodied  in  history,  science,  art  and  litera- 


no  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

ture,  education  must  equip  the  working  class  to  share  in  its 
racial  heritage. 

The  needs  of  the  nation. — Our  educational  ideal  must  fit  in 
with  our  national  ideal.  Our  national  ideal  is  that  of  a  demo- 
cratic self-governing  community  which  aims  at  giving  the  fullest 
possible  scope  to  the  expression  of  individuality.  But  the 
world  is  divided  into  nations  whose  interests  are  to  some  extent 
conflicting,  and  most  of  whom  are  not  Uving  under  democratic 
institutions.  Hence  our  Educational  Ideal  must  provide  for 
a  people  who  are  efficient  in  national  competition,  strong  in 
national  defense,  yet  free  in  thought,  speech,  action,  and  govern- 
ment, having  initiative,  intelligence,  self-reliance,  self-discipline, 
respecting  others  as  they  respect  themselves. 

The  need  of  the  race. — Just  as  the  great  need  in  the  national 
development  of  the  individual  is  freedom  to  become  one's  seK, 
so  the  great  need  in  the  development  of  the  human  race  is  the 
freedom  of  each  people  to  work  out  its  own  destiny  without 
undue  interference  from  others.  For  this  reason,  our  educa- 
tional ideal  must  include  the  making  of  good-will. 

Having  summarised  the  educational  needs  of  the  working 
class,  we  can,  with  more  or  less  accuracy,  state  our  educational 
ideal. 

Labour  wants  from  Education  health  and  full  development 
for  the  body,  knowledge  and  truth  for  the  mind,  fineness  for 
the  feelings,  good-will  towards  its  kind,  and,  coupled  with  this 
liberal  education,  such  a  training  as  will  make  its  members 
efficient,  self-supporting  citizens  of  a  free  self-governing  com- 
munity. Such  an  education,  and  only  such  an  education,  will 
meet  the  needs  of  the  individual,  the  class,  the  nation  and  the 
race. 

When  should  vocational  training  begin  ? — It  is  here  we  must 
consider  at  what  age  a  vocational  education  can  begin  with- 
out injury  to  the  free  full  development  of  the  individual. 
There  is  a  general  agreement  amongst  educationalists  that 
specialisation  under  the  age  of  sixteen  checks  all-round  growth 
and  tends  to  stereotype  the  mind.  From  this  there  follow  two 
conclusions:     (i)  Since  the  all-round  development  of  the  child 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS      ill 

ought  not  to  suffer  check  under  sixteen,  children  ought  not  to 
leave  school  under  that  age.  (2)  Any  technical  education 
given  under  that  age  should  avoid  anything  in  the  nature  of 
mechanical  specialisation,  and  for  that  reason  should  only  be 
given  by  a  fully  qualified  teacher. 

If  it  were  possible,  it  might  be  desirable  that  vocational 
instruction  should  be  confined  to  the  workshop.  By  this  means 
the  danger  of  confusing  it  with  education  would  be  avoided. 
But  this  is  no  longer  possible.  Changed  industrial  conditions 
will  impose  on  the  community  the  task  of  providing,  in  its  own 
interest,  facihties  for  vocational  and  professional  training  for 
all.  Both  individual  and  national  interests  demand  that  every 
member  of  the  conamunity,  irrespective  of  class  or  sex,  should 
be  efficient  workers.  If  this  is  done,  no  doubt  new  problems 
will  arise.  The  community  must  devise  ways  and  means  of 
utihsing  the  skill  it  has  trained.  To  train  skill  without  using  it 
is  waste.  Fresh  safeguards  must  be  devised  for  the  maintenance 
and  improvement  of  Labour's  Standard  of  Life.  These  are 
matters  of  vital  importance.  But,  difficult  as  they  may  be  to 
attain,  they  ought  not  to  be  used  as  a  denial  of  the  individual's 
right  and  duty  to  become  an  efficient  self-supporting  member 
of  the  community,  or  the  community's  right  and  duty  to  get 
the  best  out  of  its  citizens. 

But  the  instruction  that  fits  men  and  women  to  play  their 
part  in  industry  ought  to  be  secondary  to  the  Hberal  education 
that  gives  health  and  vigour  to  the  body,  knowledge  and  wisdom 
to  the  mind,  enabHng  men  and  women  *'  to  see  life  steadily  and  to 
see  it  whole."  Is  this  what  Labour  wants,  or  will  it  still  remain 
content  with  an  education  that  does  little  more  for  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  children  than  fit  them  to  earn  wages?  Let 
Labour  give  its  answer  clear  and  emphatic.  But  let  it  remember 
that  the  future  of  its  children  will  be  helped  or  hindered  by  its 
decision. 


112  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Have  you  ever  heard  an  argument  comparable  to  that  expressed 
in  Statement  i  ? 

2.  Note  the  qualities  desired  for  business  as  expressed  in  Statement  2. 
These  few  and  simple  demands  ought  easily  to  be  met,  ought 
they  not  ?    How  should  the  proper  training  be  given  ? 

3.  The  Illinois  Manufacturers'  Association  reached  what  conclusion 
concerning  the  type  of  men  desired  to  improve  their  office  organ- 
ization ?  Why  should  so  large  a  number  believe  that  university 
business  training  was  necessary  for  the  organization  of  office 
work? 

4.  In  indicating  the  training  which  should  count  in  "improving" 
accounting  systems,  introducing  cost  accounting,  fifteen 
employers  of  the  Illinois  Manufacturers'  Association  indicated 
that  special  university  training  without  mention  of  business 
courses  was  desirable;  twelve,  the  same  training  with  mention 
of  business;  fourteen,  practical  experience  without  mention  of 
any  educational  requirement.  How  would  you  account  for  the 
fact  that  these  three  quaUfications  were  considered  as  of  about 
equal  importance?  This  questionnaire  was  answered  in  1913. 
Would  it  be  your  guess  that  a  questionnaire  taken  today  would 
show  the  same  proportion  of  approval  for  these  types  of  training  ? 

5.  How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  in  no  case  was  the  high- 
school  commercial  course  mentioned  as  the  proper  training  for 
men  who  could  improve  accounting  systems?  How  do  you 
account  for  the  fact  that  in  no  case  was  the  high-school  com- 
mercial course  mentioned  as  the  proper  training  for  young  men 
to  make  advertising  more  effective?  How  do  you  account  for 
the  fact  that  special  university  courses  on  advertising  were 
favorably  viewed  by  so  large  a  percentage  of  the  Illinois  manu- 
facturers and  that  general  college  training  and  practical  experi- 
ence rank  second  and  third,  respectively  ? 

6.  The  compilers  of  the  Illinois  Manufacturers'  Association  question- 
naire state  that  "the  amount  of  indefiniteness  to  the  replies  of 
this  question  [the  question  asked  what  training  wUl  give  better 
salesmen]  is  especially  great."  How  do  you  account  for  the  fact 
that  there  was  more  indefiniteness  in  replying  to  this  question 
than  to  the  others  ? 

7.  Taking  the  "exporters'  needs"  as  outlined  in  Statement  4  as 
satisfactory  objectives,   how  would  you  organize  a  four-year 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  DIRECT  EXPRESSIONS      113 

curriculum  for  a  high-school  commercial  course  to  give  the  train- 
ing which  is  asked  for  ?  how  a  collegiate  course  ? 

8.  Reorganize  the  statement  of  qualifications  desired  by  the  depart- 
ment store  as  indicated  in  Statement  5.  For  how  many  of  these 
qualifications  should  a  secondary-school  commercial  course  be 
responsible  ?  How  many  of  them  are  taught  in  the  educational 
institution  with  which  you  are  most  familiar?  How  many  of 
them  appear  to  you  to  be  any  more  applicable  to  department- 
store  work  than  they  would  be  in  practicing  medicine  ?  school 
teaching  ?  working  as  paying  teller  ? 

9.  "I  will  repeat  that  we  want  initiative  and  originality.  I  would 
go  so  far  as  to  say  that  if  he  [the  boy]  has  the  capacity  to  go  ahead 
and  solve  new  problems  I  do  not  care  whether  he  has  any  specific 
information  or  not."  Can  initiative  and  originality  and  character 
be  taught  ?  If  so,  by  what  courses  ?  Can  the  capacity  to  solve 
new  business  problems  be  taught?  Are  they  taught  by  the 
bookkeeping  courses,  the  typewriting  courses  ?  What  is  a  busi- 
ness problem  ? 

ro.  "If  a  giri  comes  into  our  office  ....  it  is  of  Httle  importance  to 
us  whether  she  can  write  sixty  words  a  minute  on  the  type- 
writer ....  it  is  far  more  important  if  she  has  a  quick  capacity 
for  comprehension  about  our  business."  Wliat  training  can  be 
given  which  will  give  pupils  a  capacity  for  quick  comprehension  ? 

11.  "Nor  will  the  best  vocational  training  make  the  most  efficient 
and  competent  workman.  He  should  possess  a  sure  realization 
of  the  meaning  of  his  work."  What  does  this  statement  mean  ? 
Do  you  think  there  is  any  truth  in  it  ?  W^at  is  the  meaning 
of  the  work  of  a  bookkeeper  ? 

12.  Be  prepared  to  summarize  the  general  conclusions  reached  by 
the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools  as  they  are 
presented  in  Statement  8. 

13.  What  conclusions  regarding  the  high- school  commercial  course 
would  you  draw  from  the  evidence  gathered  by  Superintendent 
Thompson  in  Pittsburgh  and  New  York  ? 

14.  The  writer  of  Statement  10  asks,  What  is  a  business  man? 
Does  he  answer  the  question  ?    Can  you  ansv/er  it  ? 

15.  What  is  Vanderlip's  view  of  the  demands  of  modem  business? 
What  observations  do  you  think  have  led  him  to  this  view  ? 

16.  "In  this  attempt  to  separate  the  educational  business  interests 
from  the  educational  social  and  civic  interests,  we  may  find  the 


il4  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

source  of  much  of  the  prevailmg  misunderstanding  and  suspicion 
between  school  and  industrial  and  commercial  enterprise."  Can 
you  give  meaning  to  this  statement  ? 

17.  What  is  Mr.  Gompers'  view  of  the  proper  objective  for  vocational 
education  as  viewed  by  labor  ? 

18.  If  the  needs  of  the  individual,  the  needs  of  the  class,  the  needs 
of  the  nation,  and  the  needs  of  the  race  are  the  proper  aims  for 
education,  what  are  each  of  these  needs  ? 

19.  Formulate  in  a  series  of  statements  the  suggestions  for  business 
education  that  you  secure  from  Chapter  VIL 


CHAPTER  VIII 

WHAT  BUSINESS  SAYS  IT  WANTS:    INDIRECT 
EXPRESSIONS 

In  this  chapter  we  shall  be  studying  some  of  the  indirect 
statements  of  business.  These  indirect  expressions  are  those 
which  are  found  upon  analyzing  employments.  It  is  quite  likely 
that  the  indirect  expressions  of  business  are  more  accurate  than 
the  direct  expressions.  This  is  one  of  the  cases  in  which  action 
speaks  more  dependably  than  words.  When  the  business  man 
is  called  upon  to  analyze  the  educational  needs  of  workers  and 
to  express  these  for  public  consumption,  he,  like  any  of  us,  when 
we  find  ourselves  thinking  in  an  unaccustomed  field,  is  likely 
to  be  influenced  by  what  he  thinks  will  appear  well.  When 
occupations  or  jobs  are  analyzed,  we  get  a  definite  picture  of 
the  work  at  which  the  business  man  puts  his  employees.  By 
analyzing  these  occupations,  therefore,  one  may  find  what  is 
desired.  In  studying  occupations  for  the  purpose  of  learning 
how  to  educate  for  them,  one  matter,  however,  must  be  kept 
in  mind.  It  is  possible  that,  if  employees  had  a  different  educa- 
tional equipment,  the  tasks  at  which  they  are  placed  would  be 
different.  That  is,  actual  vocations  do  reflect  what  business 
wants,  but  they  also  reflect  what  business  is  able  to  do  with 
such  material  as  it  is  receiving.  To  the  extent  that  this  latter 
consideration  is  important,  a  study  of  vocations  reveals  the 
educational  acquirements  of  those  employed  as  weU  as  the 
wishes  of  employers. 

EVIDENCE  OF  TYPE   1.    THE  BUSINESS  DEMANDS  OF 

CERTAIN  CITIES 

A.    Opinion  in  Minneapolis^ 

In  all  conferences  held  by  the  survey  with  employers  and       \y 

employees  from  the  business  world,  there  was,  of  course,  a 

» Adapted  from  Minneapolis  Vocational  Education  Survey.  Bulletin  of 
United  States  Bureau  of  Labor,  No.  199,  1916,  p.  81. 

IIS 


J 


Il6  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

recognition  of  the  very  great  need  for  the  proper  technical  train- 
ing of  the  commercial  worker.  In  practically  every  instance, 
however,  there  was  an  agreement  upon  the  statement  that  there 
was  at  least  equal  need,  if  not  even  greater  need,  in  business 
today  of  certain  habits  of  work  and  mental  attitudes  toward 
work  which  are  as  necessary  as  technical  training,  if  not  even 
more  so,  for  the  success  and  advancement  of  office  employees. 

Many  persons  possessing  admirable  technical  knowledge 
fail  to  apply  this  knowledge  in  their  daily  work  to  the  greatest 
advantage  to  themselves  and  to  their  employers,  because  they 
have  not  acquired  habits  of  expressing  themselves  in  terms  of 
painstaking  attention,  system,  order,  neatness,  punctuality, 
and  accuracy.  It  is  perhaps  even  more  true  that  many  fail 
to  make  anticipated  progress  because  they  do  not  bring  to  their 
tasks  certain  mental  attitudes  which  express  themselves  in 
terms  of  ambition,  loyalty,  initiative,  self-confidence,  and 
willingness  to  assume  responsibility. 

Much  as  the  business  world  reahzes  the  need  of  these  habits 
and  mental  attitudes,  the  large  majority  of  business  concerns 
have  few,  if  any,  suggestions  to  make  as  to  the  way  in  which 
these  habits  and  attitudes  are  to  be  developed.  Most  of  them 
have  failed  to  inaugurate  in  their  own  estabhshments  any  plan 
for  msuring  them,  although  a  few  have  been  conspicuously 
successful  in  so  doing. 

B.    The  Demands  of  Employers  in  Des  Moines' 

Clay  D.  Slinker,  Director  Business  Education,  Des  Moines, 
Iowa,  makes  the  following  statements: 

A  remarkable  thing  brought  out  by  the  survey  is  the  number 
of  young  workers  who  feel  the  need  of  a  better  general  business 
education.  About  45  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  listed  this 
as  their  principal  training  need. 

One  of  our  largest  employers  said  the  other  day  that  no 
one  should  undertake  office  work  who  does  not  have  a  high 

'Adapted  by  permission  from  Survey  of  Junior  Commercial  Occu- 
pations in  Sixteen  States.  The  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education, 
June,  1920,  p.  38.  This  survey  was  prepared  under  the  direction  of  F.  G. 
Nichols. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS    117 

school  education.  This  opinion  seems  to  be  held  by  many  who 
call  upon  us  for  assistance  in  securing  office  help.  The  invari- 
able call  is  for  thoroughly  efficient  help  for  which  the  employer 
is  willing  to  pay  a  wage  corresponding  to  abihty  shown.  In  the 
larger  offices  the  work  is  narrowly  specialized,  but  even  these 
offices  demand  mature  workers.  Our  leading  stores  do  not 
care  to  employ  salespeople  under  eighteen  years  of  age. 

C.    The  Survey  of  Rochester,  New  York^ 

Purposes  of  the  survey. — 

1.  That  the  requirements  of  business  with  reference  to 
commercial  employees  may  be  better  understood  by  the  local 
educational  authorities. 

2.  That  the  commercial  courses  now  being  offered  by  the 
schools  of  Rochester  may  be  more  thoroughly  understood  by 
the  business  men  who  are  in  a  position  to  pass  intelligent 
judgment  of  their  merit. 

3.  That  such  changes  in  the  present  course  of  study  as  may 
seem  necessary  after  careful  consideration,  may  be  made  upon 
the  recommendation  of  this  committee. 

4.  That  in  business  training  as  in  industrial  training,  the 
educational  authorities  and  business  men  may  continue  to  co- 
operate with  each  other  to  the  end  that  more  efficiently  trained 
young  people  may  be  available  when  clerical  help  is  required. 

Kinds  of  positions  included. — The  survey  includes  1303 
commercial  workers  divided  among  twenty-one  positions  as 
shown  in  table  on  page  118. 

Typewriting. — ^Quite  a  large  proportion  of  the  employers         / 
stated  that  any  office  worker  would   be  much   more  valuable     v 
with  a  knowledge  of  typewriting  even  though  he  was  not  able 
to  write  shorthand. 

Bookkeeping. — About  60  per  cent  of   the  employers  can-     t/ 
vassed  stated  that  an  assistant  bookkeeper  does  not  need  to 
be  familiar  with  the  principles  of  double-entry  bookkeeping, 
as  the  modern  set  of  books  is  highly  sectionalized  and  much  of 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  Survey  of  Needs  in  Commercial  Edu- 
cation, pp.  3-1 2.    Rochester  Chamber  of  Commerce,  1915. 


Il8  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

the  bookkeeping  work  is  mere  routine;  40  per  cent  of  those 

canvassed  seem  to  feel,  however,  that  any  office  worker  is  much 

more  valuable  and  also  much  more  certain  of  promotion  if  he  is 

well  grounded  in  the  fundamental  principles  of  double-entry 

bookkeeping. 

TABLE  XI 

Survey  of  1,303  Commercial  Workers 

Kind  of  Work  Female        Male 

1.  Advertising  Clerks i  i 

2.  Auditors 14  o 

3.  Bookkeepers . .  30  58 

4.  Clerical — factory 10  3 

5.  Clerical — general  office 259  195 

6.  Cost  clerks 3  o 

7.  Cashiers 67  2 

8.  Collectors o  i 

9.  Credit  Clerks 2  o 

10.  Mail  Order  Clerks. i  o 

11.  Messengers 7  20 

12.  Order  and  Billing  Clerks 39  28 

13.  Pay  Roll  Clerks 21  i 

14.  Sales  and  Record  Clerks 58  2 

15.  Salespeople 210  40 

16.  Stenographers 83  8 

17.  Shipping  and  Receiving  Clerks o  92 

18.  Stock  Clerks 5  4 

19.  Timekeepers i  3 

20.  Typists 29  2 

21.  Tag  Writers 3  o 

Totals 843        460 

Grand  Total 1303 

Advertising  and  salesmanship. — All  the  employers  agreed 
that  fundamental  principles  of  advertising  and  salesmanship 
should  be  taught  in  connection  with  commercial  courses. 

Adding  machines. — Ninety  per  cent  of  the  employers 
canvassed  used  adding  machines  and  60  per  cent  stated  that 
it  would  be  very  desirable  to  have  instruction  given  on  the 
adding  machine  in  connection  with  commercial  courses. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS    119 

Dictating  machines. — Dictating  machines  are  used  by  33^ 
per  cent  of  the  employers  included  in  our  canvass  and  it  was 
suggested  that  graduates  of  commercial  courses  should  have 
some  facility  in  the  art  of  transcribing  from  the  dictating 
machine. 

Male  stenographers. — Ninety  per  cent  of  the  employers  do 
not  use  male  stenographers  and  yet  the  10  per  cent  who  do  use 
such  stenographers  have  some  exceptionally  good  positions 
open  to  young  men. 

Cuttings  from  recommendations  of  the  committee  to  the  school 
authorities. — From  the  survey  it  would  appear  that  general  / 
business  training  should  receive  more  attention  in  addition  to 
the  technical  instruction  in  bookkeeping.  Every  commercial 
course  graduate  should  be  famihar  with  the  principles  of  double- 
entry  bookkeeping,  but  he  does  not  need  to  be  an  expert  book- 
keeper. Only  6 J  per  cent  of  the  1303  commercial  workers  are 
bookkeepers  and  the  majority  of  these  are  routine  clerks  on  a 
highly  specialized  and  sectionalized  set  of  books. 

One  hundred  per  cent  of  the  firms  repUed  that  advertising    y 
should  be  taught  in  the  schools.     It  is  therefore  recommended 
that  this  matter  be  presented  to  the  schools  with  the  request 
that  such  courses  be  given  to  all  day  commercial  students  as 
well  as  to  evening  classes. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  adding  machines  are  used  by  90 
per  cent  of  the  firms  canvassed,  it  is  recommended  that  operators 
be  trained  in  the  commercial  courses. 

It  is  strongly  recommended  that  such  business  habits  as 
obedience,  courtesy,  industry,  thoughtfulness,  promptness, 
loyalty,  etc.,  be  made  the  subjects  of  definite  and  conscious  /.. 
instruction  in  all  commercial  courses.  Frequent  talks  by  those 
who  know  their  value  should  be  given  to  commercial  students. 
No  teacher  can  handle  these  subjects  as  effectively  as  the  man 
in  business  can. 

It  is  also  recommended  that  pupils  be  taught  the  very  great 
advantage  of  sticking  to  one  job  long  enough  to  thoroughly 
test  its  advantages  before  seeking  another  position  and  that 
future  prospects  are  better  than  immediate  gain. 


I20  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

General  education,  maturity,  thorough  knowledge  of  English, 
good  vocabulary,  clean  personal  habits,  etc.,  are  necessary  to 
success  in  stenographic  work.  Only  those  who  have  reasonable 
assurance  of  success  should  be  encouraged  to  enter  this  field. 

Since  78  per  cent  of  the  firms  canvassed  have  no  definite 
plan  of  promotion,  and  the  remaining  22  per  cent  have  a  plan 
only  with  reference  to  their  selling  force,  it  is  recommended 
that  all  firms  be  urged  to  devise  some  plan  whereby  every  worthy 
employee  will  be  made  to  understand  that  promotion  will 
automatically  and  surely  follow  success  on  his  part.  It  is 
believed  that  this  is  the  best  way  to  make  the  floater  a  per- 
manent link  in  any  business  organization.  The  number  of 
employees  under  twenty-six  years  of  age  in  this  survey  who  have 
been  promoted  to  their  present  positions  is  only  ^^^  per  cent  of 
the  total.  The  statistics  bear  out  the  complaint  that  employees 
of  this  type  do  not  remain  in  one  place  long  enough.  A  promo- 
tion plan  might  remedy  this  situation  to  some  extent. 

D.    A  Survey  in  Milwaukee^ 

An  experimental  survey  was  made  in  Milwaukee  in  June, 
19 19.  The  report  on  this  survey  was  not  made  in  exactly  the 
same  form  as  were  those  received  from  other  cities,  therefore, 
it  was  not  possible  to  tabulate  the  results  with  the  others  in 
this  final  report.  However,  the  figures  given  in  the  summary 
on  page  121  indicate  that  the  situation  in  MilwauJiee  is  exactly 
the  same  as  it  is  elsewhere. 

The  following  important  statements  are  quoted  from  the 
Milwaukee  report  and  bear  out  the  general  conclusion  reached 
as  a  result  of  this  survey: 

General,  as  well  as  technical  educational  requirements  for 
entrance  into  commercial  positions,  are  reachhig  higher  stand- 
ards. Applicants  for  such  positions  are  confronted  by  the 
question:   "  What  can  you  do  ?    What  education  and  prepara- 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  Survey  of  Junior  Commercial  Occupa- 
tions in  Sixteen  States,  pp.  35-36.  The  Federal  Board  for  Vocational 
Education,  June,  1920.  This  survey  was  prepared  under  the  direction  of 
F.  G.  Nichols. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS    I2i 

tion  have  you  had  ?  "  In  Milwaukee,  employers  of  office  help 
favor  young  people  who  are  seventeen  or  more  years  of  age, 
and  who  have  had  a  full,  or  at  least  part,  high  school  education. 
Unfortunately  there  are  not  enough  secondary  school  graduates 
to  supply  the  demands  of  business.  Economic  reasons  compel 
thousands  of  worthy  and  ambitious  boys  and  girls  to  leave  the 
elementary  schools  to  find  employment. 

TABLE  XII 

Commercial  Occupations  of  1,067  Boys  and  Girls  undek 

Seventeen  Years  of  Age  in  the  City  of 

Milwaukee,  Wis. 

Kind  of  Work  Done  Number       Per  Cent 

1.  Bookkeeping  exclusively 12  i 

2.  Bookkeeping  in  part  only 48  4^ 

3.  Shorthand  exclusively 42  4 

4.  Shorthand  in  part  only 72  7 

5.  Billing 31  3 

6.  Calculating  machine  operating 38  3^ 

7.  Dictaphone  operating 5                ^ 

8.  Bookkeeping  machine  operating 2 

9.  Typewriting 98  9 

10.  Messengers 68  6| 

11.  Retail  selling 48  4I 

12.  Shipping  clerk  work 24  2^ 

13.  Time  keeping 17  if 

14.  Cost  clerk  work 15  i| 

15.  Multigraph  operating 11  i 

16.  Addressograph 29  2f 

17.  Filing 102  9I 

18.  Telephone  operating 161  15 

19.  Miscellaneous  clerical  work 244  23 

1067  100 

In  Milwaukee  there  are  approximately  1067  boys  and  girls 
between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  seventeen  who  are  doing  office 
work  (mostly  in  small  offices).  Only  a  very  small  number  have 
had  some  high  school  training.  About  200  have  taken  business 
courses,  either  in  high  schools,  continuation  or  private  business 
schools.    All  of  these  boys  and  girls  are  attending  the  part-time 


122  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

continuation  school.  Fully  90  per  cent  of  them  are  following 
courses  of  study  intended  to  advance  them  in  their  commercial 
work. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  only  about  si  per  cent  are  doing  actual 
bookkeeping  work,  and  only  11  per  cent  are  doing  stenographic 
work,  proving  that,  as  a  rule,  young  boys  and  girls  are  not 
employed  for  such  work. 

In  reply  to  the  question,  "What  must  you  know,  learn  or 
do  to  advance  yourself  in  your  position?"  951  boys  and  girls 
under  seventeen,  who  are  now  commercially  employed, 
responded.    The  replies  are  grouped  as  follows: 

Bookkeeping 158        Calculating  Machine 44 

Billing  Machine  Operating.  12  Addressograph  Operating. .  i 

Multigraph  Operating i        Telegraphy 5 

Dictaphone  Operating 2  Bookkeeping  Machine  Op- 
Filing  12            erating 3 

Telephone  Operating 6        Selling 40 

Shipping  Clerk  Work 3        Time  Keeping 8 

Cost  Clerk  Work 15        Mail  Clerk  Work 4 

Advertising 3        Buying 4 

Business  Law 3        Banking 5 

Cashier 3        Checker 4 

General  Clerical 25        English 99 

Penmanship 86        Spelling 44 

Arithmetic 44        Correspondence 15 

Stenography 302 

The  fact  that  about  50  per  cent  call  for  bookkeeping  and 
stenography  may  be  due  to  a  lack  of  opportunity  to  pursue 
other  courses;  to  a  lack  of  knowledge  that  other  kinds  of  office 
work  offer  as  much  pay  and  advancement  as  bookkeeping  and 
shorthand,  or  because  the  false  notion  prevails  among  many 
young  folks  (old  folks  too)  that  bookkeeping  and  stenography 
lend  more  dignity,  refinement  and  respect  to  a  position.  They 
look  with  disdain  upon  general  clerical  work,  machine  operating, 
retail  selling,  etc. 

English  in  some  form  is  called  for  by  about  30  per  cent. 
This  is  significant.    In  a  general  way  it  may  be  stated  that  more 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS    123 

time  can  profitably  be  given  to  the  teaching  of  the  essentials 
of  English,  arithmetic,  penmanship,  general  clerical  work, 
filing  and  machine  operating,  rather  than  to  technical  bookkeep- 
ing and  stenography,  especially  when  the  educational  back- 
ground does  not  equal  at  least  a  high  school  education. 

E.    Conclusions  from  the  Cleveland  Survey* 

The  range  of  a  boy's  possible  future  in  commercial  occupa- 
tions is  as  wide  as  the  field  of  business.  He  cannot  at  first  be 
trained  specifically  as  a  girl  can  be  because  he  does  not  know 


Fig.  6. — Boys  and  girls  under  18  years  of  age  in  ofl&ce  work  in  Cleve- 
land.   Data  from  report  of  Ohio  Industrial  Commission,  1915. 

what  business  will  do  with  him  or  what  he  wants  to  do  with 
business.  The  girl's  choice  is  limited  by  custom.  She  can 
prepare  herself  definitely  for  stenography,  bookkeepmg,  or 
machine  operating  and  be  sure  that  she  is  preparmg  for  just 
the  opportunity — and  the  whole  opportunity — that  business 
offers  to  her.  Her  very  limitation  of  opportunity  makes  pre- 
liminary choice  and  training  definitely  possible  things. 

The  difference  between  boys'  work  and  girls'  begins  at  the 
beginning.  Boys  are  given  the  larger  share  of  the  positions 
which  the  youngest  workers  can  fill.  Figure  6  illustrates  this 
and  the  figures  of  the  United  States  Census  for  19 10  clearly  cor- 

I  Adapted  by  permission  from  Bertha  M.  Stevens,  Boys  and  Girls  in 
Commercial  Work,  pp.  15-27.  Survey  Committee  of  the  Cleveland  Founda- 
tion, 1916. 


124  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

roborate  it.  Boys  are  taken  for  such  work  and  taken  younger 
than  girls,  not  merely  because  the  law  permits  them  to  go  to 
work  at  an  earlier  age,  but  also  because  business  itself  intends  to 
round  out  their  training.  Girls,  on  the  contrary,  are  expected 
to  enter  completely  trained  for  definite  positions,  and  this  fact 
alone  would  in  most  cases  require  that  they  be  older  than  boys 
when  they  begin  work.  Furthermore,  because  boys  in  first 
positions  are  looked  upon  as  potential  clerks,  miscellaneous  jobs 
about  the  office  have,  for  them,  a  two-fold  value.  They  give 
the  employer  a  chance  to  weed  out  unpromising  material;  and 
they  give  boys  an  opportunity  to  find  themselves  and  to  gather 
ideas  about  the  business  and  its  methods  which  they  may  be 
able  to  make  use  of  in  later  adjustments. 

Clerical  Administrative 


Fig.  7. — Men  and  women  18  years  of  age  and  over  in  clerical  and 
administrative  work  in  offices  in  Cleveland.    U.S.  Census,  1910. 

A  comparison  of  the  opportunities  held  out  to  each  sex  is 
shown  in  several  ways  in  diagrams  and  tables.  Figure  7  shows 
that  girls*  training,  if  it  is  to  meet  the  present  situation,  must 
prepare  for  a  future  in  specialized  clerical  work;  boys'  futures 
must  apparently  be  thought  of  as  in  both  the  clerical  and 
administrative  fields.  The  term  "clerical"  as  here  used  covers 
bookkeepers,  cashiers,  and  accountants,  stenographers,  t5^ists, 
and  unspecialized  clerks,  and  a  miscellaneous  group  of  younger 
workers,  such  as  messengers,  office  boys,  etc.  "  Adminis- 
trative'*  covers  proprietors,  officials,  managers,  supervisors  and 
agents,  but  it  does  not  include  salespeople. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS    125 

It  is  far  from  the  intention  of  this  report  to  overlook  or  to 
discredit  the  advances  which  women  in  this  day  are  making 
toward  a  responsible  part  in  business.  And,  while  the  present 
practical  training  of  the  mass  of  girls  for  commercial  work  must 
be  based  upon  the  kind  of  positions  the  mass  of  women  now  hold, 
there  is  no  ground  for  interpreting  such  a  program  of  training 
as  an  attempt  to  limit  the  opportunities  of  women.  The 
limitation  is,  by  custom,  already  set..   It  is,  largely,  the  part 


1212 


1200 


3.8^ 


6.CJS 


Fig.  8. — Increase  in  the  percentage  of  women  in  administrative  posi- 
tions in  oflSce  work  in  Cleveland  from  1900  to  19 10.    U.S.  Census. 


of  women  themselves  to  surpass  it,  if  the  wider  field  is  the  thing 
they  really  desire.  It  is  known  that  women  are  demonstrating, 
in  many  individual  instances,  their  capacity  to  step  beyond  the 
bounds  of  clerical  occupations;  and  there  is  evidence,  in  the 
trend  of  the  figures  of  the  United  States  Census,  that  women  in 
the  future  will  have  an  increasing  share  in  creative  and  adminis- 
trative work.  Figure  8  shows  that  in  the  10  year  period  between 
1900  and  1 9 10  the  proportion  of  Cleveland  women  in  adminis- 
trative positions  in  office  work  increased  more  than  one-haK. 

The  total  number  of  persons  in  clerical  work  in  Cleveland — • 
men  and  women,  boys  and  girls — is,  according  to  the  United 


126 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


States  Census,  approximately  22,000.  Figure  9  shows  the 
distribution  of  these  workers  on  the  basis  of  occupation.  Clerks 
make  up  by  far  the  largest  number. 

Stenographers  and  the  bookkeeping  groups  are  about  equal, 
but  the  sum  of  these  is  not  much  greater  than  the  number  of 
the  clerks  alone.  The  junior  workers,  including  messengers, 
ofl&ce  boys,  etc.,  are,  as  may  be  expected,  a  tiny  minority. 


Fig.  9. — Distribution  of  clerical  workers  in  Cleveland  according  to 
positions.    U.S.  Census,  19 10. 


The  distribution  of  the  various  kinds  of  clerical  workers,  on 
the  basis  of  sex,  is  illustrated  by  Figure  10.  It  will  be  noted 
that,  of  the  men,  it  is  the  clerks  that  make  up  by  far  the  largest 
portion.  Among  the  women,  it  is  the  stenographers.  The  num- 
bers of  men  stenographers  and  women  clerks  are  correspond- 
ingly few.  In  the  bookkeeping  groups  the  proportions  of  men 
and  women  are  most  nearly  alike,  and,  for  both  men  and  women, 
these  groups  are  the  second  largest.  Later  in  this  chapter 
reference  is  made  to  a  difference  in  the  kinds  of  bookkeeping 
work  which  men  and  women  commonly  do.  The  larger  propor- 
tion of  boys  among  the  youngest  workers  has  already  been 
explained. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS    127 


Two  tables  have  been  prepared  showing  again,  for  both 
sexes,  the  contrast  in  the'  number  and  kinds  of  positions  they 
hold.  The  table  for  men  and  boys  is  a  classification  of  2,306 
clerical  and  administrative  positions;  for  women  and  girls, 
2,816.  The  information  had  to  be  obtained  from  differing 
sources.    The  positions  for  men  and  boys  are  those  held  by 


Book- 

Stenog- 

Clerks 

Juniors: 

Iceepera^ 

raphers 

messengers. 

cashiara. 

and 

• 

office  boys 

account- 

typists 

etc. 

ants 

Fig.  10. — Percentage  distribution  of  men  and  women  in  ofl&ce  work  in 
Cleveland.  Columns  in  outline  represent  men  and  boys;  those  in  black, 
women  and  girls.    U.S.  Census,  1910. 

1,000  applicants  for  office  work  at  the  Employment  Bureau  of 
the  Cleveland  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  1912-1915. 

The  records  of  this  Bureau  are  kept  with  great  care  and 
completeness  and  they  have  proved  a  valuable  source  of  informa- 
tion about  work,  wages,  and  training. 

Figure  11  shows  in  graphic  form  the  distribution  of  the 
non-administrative  positions.    This  diagram  presents  in  more 


128 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


detail  the  same  kinds  of  facts  that  have  akeady  been  brought 
out  in  Figure  5.  Excluding  for  both  men  and  women  the 
workers  in  administrative  positions,  we  have  left  those  doing 
general  office  work  of  a  clerical  nature.  Among  the  men  and 
boys  these  positions  number  1,955  ^is  compared  with  2,747 


Uachina  1.0 
Steno- 
graphers 9«X 

General 
elerical  10. 7 

Book- 
keepers.  11  .U 


Clsrks  67.8 


WOMDI 


Machine 
workers  23.** 


Steno- 
graphers 36*2 


General 
clerical  16.U 


Book- 
keepers 20.6 


Clerks  l.U 


Fig.  II, — Percentage  distribution  of  non-administrative  positions  in 
ofl5ce  work  held  by  men  and  women  in  Cleveland  191 2-15;  1,955  posi- 
tions for  men  and  2,747  for  women. 


positions  for  the  women  and  girls.  Clerks  make  up  the  largest 
groups  of  men,  and  machine  workers  the  smallest;  stenographers 
make  up  the  largest  group  of  women,  and  clerks  the  smallest. 
The  diagram  shows  that  among  each  100  men  68  are  clerks, 
while  among  each  100  women,  only  one  is  a  clerk.    On  the 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     T29 

Other  hand,  among  each  100  men,  only  one  is  a  machine  operator, 
while  of  each  100  women,  23  are  machine  operators. 

F.    What  Business  Does  with  Boys  and  Girls  in  New  York^ 

TABLE  XIII 

Occupations  of  Boys 


Kind  of  Work 

Wage 

Age 

Business 

Bookkeepers  4 

Wage 
Range 

$5-$0 

Age 

Range 
16 

Furniture  and  fixture 

Embroidery  and  lace 

Clothing — outer 

Assistant  bookkeeper,  typewrites  all  bills 
and  takes  care  of  ledger 

Assistant   bookkeeper,   enters  orders  re- 
ceived and  checks  deliveries 

Bookkeeper 

Assistant  bookkeeper 

$9.00 
8.00 

7. GO 
500 

16 

16 
16 

Furniture  and  fixture 

16 

Clerks  95 

Wage 
Range 

$.S-$i6 

Age 
Range 
14-18 

Railroad 

Billing  clerk 

Receives  all  freight  shipped  to  New  York 

and  collected  by  wagon 
Weighing  and  in  charge  of  testing  coffee 
Helper,  shipping  department 
Clerk 

General  oflBce-worker 
Junior  clerk,  statistical  work 
Shipper,  makes  out  bills  and  directs  drivers 
Assistant  buyer  and  receiving  clerk 
Junior  clerk.    Secretary  to  member  of  firm 
Office  assistant.    File  clerk  and  general 

office-worker 
Newspaper  clipping.     General  office  work 
Assistant  receiving  clerk 
Enters  bills  and  checks  orders 
Order  clerk 
Shipping  clerk 
Bill  clerk 

Clerical  worker  and  salesman 
Replaces  orders  for  shipment 
Makes  out  tickets.     Charges  goods 
Assistant  advertising  manager.     Attends 

to  transferring  and  correcting 
Fills  orders.    Order  clerk 
Keeps  account  of  manuscripts 
Clerical  worker 
General  office   worker.    Does  filing  and 

errands 
Office  worker 
Shipping  clerk 

Assistant  shipping  clerk.     Ships  goods 
Helper  on  shipping 
Attendant,  in  charge  of  four  boys 
Salesman's  clerk 
Prepares  orders  for  shipment 
Ships  orders 

Mail  clerk  and  office  assistant 
Assistant  shipping  clerk.     Prepares  orders 

for  shipment 
Stock  boy.    FiUs  stock  cards 
Assistant  shipping  clerk 

$16. GO 

12. GO 
II. GO 
II. GO 
IG.GO 
IG.GO 
IG.GO 
IG.GO 
IG.OO 

9-25 

9.00 
9. GO 
9. GO 
9. GO 
9. GO 
9.00 

8. GO 
8.GG 

8. GO 
8. GO 

8.00 

8. GO 

8. GO 
8. GO 
8. GO 
8. GO 
8. GO 

7.50 
7.50 
7.50 

7. GO 
7. GO 

7. GO 
7. GO 
7. GO 

Railroad 

Banking  and  brokerage 

Clothing — outer 

17 

18 

Stationery .... 

18 

Banking  and  brokerage 

Toilet  articles 

18 
18 

Shirtwaists— ladies' 

17 
17 

Real  estate 

Department  store 

18 
18 

Dry  goods  and  notions 

Groceries 

17 

Wallpaper 

17 

Butcher .    . . 

17 

Dry  goods  and  notions 

Dry  goods  and  notions 

Clothing— outer 

Clothing — outer 

17 
18 
18 
17 

Department  store 

Printing  and  publishing 

Printing  and  publishing...    . 

Banking  and  brokerage 

Banking  and  brokerage 

Advertising 

17 
17 

17 
17 

17 

Motor  supplies 

16 

Hardware    . .    . 

16 

Feathers 

16 

Newspaper 

16 

Cement  and  stone 

16 

Novelties 

16 

Confectionery 

18 

Rubber  products 

18 

Jewelry 

Banking  and  brokerage 

17 
17 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  Bertha  M.  Stevens,  Private  Commercial 
Schools,  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx,  pp.  135-43.  Public  Education  Associa- 
tion of  the  City  of  New  York,  iqi8. 


I30 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 
TABLE  XIII— Continued 


Kind  of  Work 

Wage 

Age 

Business 

Clerks— Continued 

Wage 
Range 
$3-i6 

Age 
Range 
14-18 

Insurance 

Changes  names  of  beneficiaries  in  policies 

Assistant  to  secretary.  General  ofiice  work 

Office  and  clerical  work 

File  clerk 

Policy  checker 

Shipping  clerk.     Ships  goods 

Junior  clerk.     General  office  worker 

Records  charges  or  overcharges  and  errors 

Shipping  clerk,  packer,  etc. 

File  clerk.    DeUvers  packages  to  chutes 

Does  clerical  work  for  superintendent 

Receives  goods  and  checks  them 

Mail  clerk.     Stamps  and  seals  envelopes 

Clerical  and  general  office  worker 

First  grade  clerk.  Does  filing  and  indexing 

Does     bookkeeping    and     filing.     Keeps 

records 
Sends  out  letters  and  catalogs 
Sample  clerk 
Clerical  worker 
Information    boy.        Gives   information, 

takes  orders 
Files  correspondence,  etc. 
Packs  orders  for  shipment 
Prepares  orders  for  shipment 
Ships  goods,  makes  out  labor  tickets,  gives 

out  goods  to  cut 
Receipt  clerk 

Does  all  office  work  and  filing 
Keeps  time.    Typist 
Ships  goods 

Stock  boy — clerical  work  and  errands 
Filing  clerk 

Assistant  shipping  clerk 
Files  letters  and  bills.    Opens  mail 
Files  letters 

Sample  clerk.     Shows  stock 
Assistant  shipping  clerk 
Law  clerk.    Answers  cases  on  calendar. 

Does  office  work 
Shipping  clerk 
Files  receipts  and  claims 
Packs,  ships,  and  delivers  goods 
Packs,  ships,  and  does  general  work 
Board  boy.     Puts  up  quotations  on  stock 

board 
Shipping  clerk 

Ships  goods.    Attends  to  stock 
General  office  worker.     Care  of  receipts, 

collecting  rents,  etc. 
Helper.     General  office  worker 
Packs,  stamps,  and  does  errands 
Stamps  mails.    Deposits  same   in   post- 
office 
Filing  clerk 

Helper  in  shipping  department 
General  utility  worker:    Office  work  and 

errands 
Collects  goods  from  different  departments 
Helper  in  shipping  department 
Assistant  shipping  clerk 
Assistant  clerk.    Answers  bell 
Billing  clerk 
Receiving  clerk 

$  7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
6.2s 
6.2s 

6.2s 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 

6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 

6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
5.50 
5.50 
S.oo 

s.oo 
S.oo 
S.oo 
S.oo 
S.oo 

S.oo 
S.oo 
S.oo 

S.oo 

5.00 
S.oo 

S.oo 
S.oo 
S.oo 

S.oo 
4.00 
4.00 
4.00 
4.00 
3.00 

17 

Groceries 

17 

Furniture  and  fixture 

Insurance    . 

17 

17 

Dental  supplies 

17 

Automobile 

16 

Drugs  and  medicines 

Dressmaking 

16 
16 

Mail  order  house 

16 

Bottle  cap  making 

le 

Glassware  and  china 

Insurance    . 

14 
14 
17 
17 

Banking  and  brokerage 

Department  store    

16 
18 

18 

Art  work 

Photography 

Woolens 

17 
17 

Dressmaking 

17 

Tobacco 

Clothing — outer 

Dry  goods  and  notions 

Advertising 

17 
17 

Printing  and  publishing 

Automobiles .  . . 

16 
16 

Banking  and  brokerage 

Printing  and  publishing 

Clothing— outer 

16 
16 
16 

Clothing — outer 

Printing  and  publishing 

Stationery 

16 

x6 

Hat,  cap,  bonnet 

18 

Law  and  collections 

Stationery 

17 
17 

Butcher 

17 

Novelties 

Banking  and  brokerage 

Dry  goods  and  notions 

Button  making 

17 

17 
17 
17 

Real  estate 

Clothing — outer 

16 
16 

Tobacco 

16 

Printing  and  publishing 

Printing  and  publishing 

Clothing — outer .    . 

16 
IS 

Jewelry 

Department  store 

u 

Clothing — outer 

16 

Clothing — outer 

16 

Painting 

Glassware  and  china 

Not  reported 

16 

16 

WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     131 
TABLE  XUI—Contimied 


Kind  of  Work 

Wage 

Age 

Business 

Errand-Messengers  3 

Wage 
Range 

$4-$S 

Age 
Range 
14-16 

Hotel  and  restaurant 

Silk  making 

Office  work  and  messenger 

Stock  book  and  errands 

Helps  bookkeeper.    Does  errands 

$S.oo 
4-50 
4-00 

16 
16 

14 

Office  Boys  47 

Wage 
Range 

$2-$8 

Age 
Range 
14-18 

Building  and  contracting 

Banking  and  brokerage 

Expressing  and  trucking 

Produce 

Office  boy.     Switchboard  operator 
Clerical  worker 
Helper  in  office 
Office  boy 
Sub-Hclerical  worker 

Office  boy.     Does  errands 

Office  boy.     Mail  clerk 

Office  boy.    Answers  telephone 

Office  boy.    Telephone  work  and  mailing 

Office  boy.     Runs  errands 

Office  clerk 

Office  boy.    Does  filing  and  general  office 
work 

Office  boy 

Clerical  worker  and  errand  boy 

Office  boy.    Telephone  work  and  mailing 

Does  errands  and  filing 

Sub-<:Ieiical  worker 

Office  boy 

Office  and  errand  boy 

Office  and  errand  boy 

Office  and  telephone  boy.     Receives  and 
announces  visitors 

Office  boy.    Marks  price  of  goods  on  sales 
slips 

Does  telephone  work  and  mailing.    Er- 
rand boy 

Office,  errand,  and  telephone  boy.    Ad- 
dresses letters 

Office,  switchboard,  and  errand  boy 

Office,  mail,  and  errand  boy 

Office  and  errand  boy 

Messenger  and  office  boy.    Files  papers 

Takes  care  of  mail  books 

Directs  callers.     Does  errands 

Office,  errand,  and  telephone  boy 

Office,  errand,  and  telephone  boy.     Re- 
ceives goods 

Office  boy.    Answers  bells  and  telephone 
calls 

Office  boy 

Office  boy.     Cleans  office,  does  errands 

Office,  telephone,  and  errand  boy 

Office,  telephone,  and  mail  boy 

Errand  and  telephone  boy.    Does  typing 
and  takes  care  of  samples 

Watch-office  boy 

Office  boy 

Office,  mail,  and  telephone  boy 

Does  light  bookkeeping  and  switchboard 
work 

Addresses  envelop^.    Does  errands 

Office  boy.    Answers  bells 

Office  boy,  during  summer  and  after  school 

Office  boy 

$8.00 
8.00 
8.00 
7. SO 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 

6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
S-SO 
S-oo 
5-00 
S-OO 

S-oo 

S-oo 

S-oo 

S-oo 
S-oo 
S-oo 
S-oo 
S-oo 
S-oo 
S-oo 
S-oo 

S-oo 

S-oo 
4-So 
4-SO 
4-00 
4.00 

4.00 
4.00 
4.00 
4.00 

4.00 
4.00 
4.00 
2.00 

i6 
16 

16 

Printing  and  publishing 

17 
16 

Advertising 

IS 
17 
17 
16 
16 

Building  and  contracting 

Furniture  and  fixture 

Buttons 

Metal,  steel,  iron 

16 

Hardware 

16 
16 

Banking  and  brokerage 

16 
16 

Dry  goods  and  notions 

Building  and  contracting 

Clothing — outer 

18 

Neckwear 

Feathers 

17 

Painting 

Musical  instruments 

Metal,  steel,  iron 

17 
17 

Lighting  fixtures 

17 

Liquors 

16 
16 

Butcher .  .  . 

16 

Express  and  trucking 

Telephone 

16 

IS 
IS 
I  c 

Lithographing 

Furniture  and  fixtures 

Electrical  appliances 

Law  and  collections 

IS 

15 

14 
16 

Machinery 

14 
16 

Groceries 

Glassware  and  china 

Painting 

16 

Oil  products 

16 

15 

Novelties 

IS 
IS 

Real  estate 

Hardware 

Drugs  and  medicines 

Doctor 

IS 

14 
14 

IS 
IS 

Woolens     . . 

132 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


TABLE  XIV 

Office  Positions  Held  by  Untrained  Girls  Fourteen  to 
Eighteen  Years  of  Age,  Inclusive* 


Kind  of  Work 

Wage 

Age 

Business 

Addressers  3 

Wage 

Range 

$6 

Age 
Range 
16-17 

l^ail  order  house         

Addresses  mail 
Addresses  envelopes 
Addresses  envelopes 

$6.00 
6.00 
6.00 

V6 

Mail  order  house    

Printing  and  publishing 

16 

Bookkeepers  7 

Wage 
Range 

$5-$0 

Age 
Range 
14-17 

Dressmaking 

Answers  letters  and  keeps  books 

Does  all  bookkeeping  for  firm 

Makes  entries.    Takes  dictation,  copies 

letters 
Takes  charge  of  books  for  father 
Answers  telephone;  correspondence  work. 

Keeps  the  books 
Enters  orders 
Balances  accounts  for  father 

$9.00 
7.00 

5. 00 
5. 00 

S.oo 
5. 00 

17 

16 

Express  and  trucking 

Furniture  and  fixtures 

Dressmaking     

15 
IS 

14 

Steamship 

17 

Cashiers  8 

Wage 
Range 

$2.5o-$9 

Age 
Range 
14-17 

Clothing — outer     

Cashier.    Does  some  bookkeeping 

Takes  cash,  checks  parcels 

Cashier 

Tallies  time  of  employees.  Receives  money 

for  sales 
Sits  at  register  and  makes  change 
Takes  charge  of  cash 
Cashier  and  packer 
Cashier  and  bookkeeper 

$9.00 
8.00 
8. CO 

7.00 
6.00 
S.oo 
S.oo 
S.oo 

17 

Department  store     

Butcher   

17 

Groceries                 

16 
14 

Hotel  and  restaurant 

16 

Butcher 

16 

Clerks  45 

Wage 
Range 

$.VSc^ 
$10 

Age 
Range 
14-18 

Tobacco 

Factory  pay-roll  clerk 

Keeps  records  of  corresiwndence 

Keeps  track  of  material  given  out 

Graphotype  operator 

Files  orders 

Does  posting  and  billing.   Assistant  book- 
keeper 

Files  letters.    Assistant  bookkeeper 

Addressograph  machine  operator 

Shipping  clerk 

Makes  out  bills 

Keeps  track  of  money  received  and  files 
bills 

Marks  goods 

Files  bills 

Writes  call  checks 

Does  typing 

Files  and  addresses  letters 

Does  general  office  work 

Assistant  bookkeeper 

Tabulates  sheets.    Does  filing 

$10.00 
10.00 
10.00 
10.00 

9.00 
8.00 
8.00 
8.00 
8.00 

8.00 
7 -SO 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
6.50 

18 

Department  store 

18 

15 

14 

Printing  and  publishing 

Printing  and  publishing 

Department  store        

18 
18 
17 

Dry  goods  and  notions 

Printing  and  publishing 

Banking  and  brokerage 

Embroidery  and  lace 

Printing  and  publishing 

17 
17 

16 
18 
i8 

17 

Religion                    

17 

16 

16 

Shirtwaists— ladies' 

Tobacco                        

]l 

*  Bureau  oj  Attendance  Records,  1915. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS    133 
TABLE  XIV— Continued 


Kind  of  Work 

Wage 

Age 

Business 

Clerks— Continued 

Wage 
Range 
$3.5&- 

$IO 

Age 
Range 
14-18 

Stationery 

Files  letters.    Assistant  bookkeeper 

Fills  out  blanks  for  customers 

Keeps  account  of  received  goods 

Cuts  tickets 

Printer.    Works   at   stenciling  and  esti- 
mates 

Writes  letters 

Attends  to  mail,  makes  out  bills  and  keeps 
books 

Attends  to  mail  orders 

Charges  accounts 

Does  general  office  work 

Audits  due  bills 

Enters  sales.    Turns  in  amounts  to  cashier 
at  end  of  month 

Sorts  bills.    Looks  up  orders 

Answers  telephone.    Looks  up  orders 

Files  bills 

Files  order  cards 

Does  clerical  work 

Entry  clerk.    Puts  checks  on  boxes 

Addresses  envelopes.    Files  cards 

Clerk  in  mail  order  department 

Checks  up  commission  of  clerks 

Keeps  track  of  appointments  in  alteration 
department 

Enters  bills  in  books 

Files  letters.    Answers  telephone 

Does  general  office  work 

$6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 

6.00 
6.00 

6.00 

5. 00 
6.00 
5.50 
S.oo 

S.oo 
S.oo 
S.oo 
5.00 
5.00 
S.oo 
S.oo 
S.oo 
4.50 
4-50 

4.00 
4.00 
4.00 
4.00 

17 

Mail  order  house .... 

17 

16 

Clothing — outer 

16 

Agricultural 

Mail  order  house    

16 
16 

Department  store 

15 
IS 

Medical  instruments 

Department  store 

16 
18 

Department  store 

18 
17 

Department  store 

17 

Printing  and  publishing 

16 
16 

Clothing — outer 

16 

Department  store 

16 

Printing  and  publishing 

Department  store 

IS 
17 

16 

Department  store 

Department  store 

16 

Department  store    

16 

Department  store 

17 

News  Clipper  i 

Wage 

Range 

$5 

Age 

Range 

17 

Newspaper 

Cuts  clippings  from   papers  and  pastes 
them 

$5.00 

17 

Telephone  Operator  i 

Wage 

Range 

$5 

Age 

Range 

17 

Department  store 

Calls  up  self  charges 

$S.oo 

17 

134 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


TABLE  XV 

Office  Positions  Held  by  Boys  Fourteen  to  Eighteen  Years 

OF  Age  Who  Have  Had  Commercial  Training* 


Kind  of  Work 

Wage 

Age 

Business 

Bookkeepers  2 

Wage 
Range 

$8-$io 

Age 

Range 

17 

Roofing 

Keeps  accounts 
Assistant  bookkeeper 

$10.00 
8.00 

17 

Leather  and  skins 

Clerks  12 

Wage 
Range 

Age 
Range 
1S-18 

Instruction 

Shipping  clerk 

Shipping  clerk.     Gets  orders  ready  and 

ships  them.     Also  receives  goods 
Does  filing,  indexing,  and  typmg 
Filing  clerk 
Does  typing  and  filing 
General  ofl&ce  worker 
Keeps  charges  and  letter  books 
Packs  orders  for  delivery 
Sends  out  letters.    Does  stamping 

Does  filing  and  order  work 

Mail  clerk.    Folds  and  inserts  circulars 

Checks  invoices.     Does  billing  and  mailing 

$10.00 

8.50 
8.00 
6.2s 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 

SSO 

5. 00 
S-oo 
4. SO 

17 

Electrical  appliances 

Embroidery  and  lace 

Railroads 

17 
16 
17 

Law  and  collections 

Machinery 

18 

Plumbing 

16 

Stationery 

16 

Tobacco 

16 

Engineering  and  motor  sup- 
plies .  .  . 

16 

Steamship  lines 

16 

Mail  order  house 

15 

Copy  Holder  i 

Wage 
Range 

$S 

Age 
Range 
17    . 

Printing  and  publishing 

Copy  holder  for  proof  reader 

$Soo 

17 

Office  Boys  7 

Wage 
Range 

$4-$6 

Age 
Range 
14-17 

Furniture  and  fixtures 

Amusement 

Office  and  mail  boy.    Does  errands 

Office  boy 

Office  boy.     Files  Drawings 

Office  boy.     Does  clerical  and  telephone 

work 
Does  minor  clerical  work  and  errands 
Does  general  office  work  and  errands 
Office  boy 

$6.00 
S-oo 
S-oo 

S-oo 
S.oo 
4.50 
4.00 

16 

17 

Architecture 

16 

Department  store 

Law  and  collections 

Real  estate 

15 
IS 
17 

Drugs  and  medicines 

14 

Stenographers  and  Typists  4 

Wage 
Range 
$9-$i2 

Age 
Range 
IS-18 

Electricity  and  gas 

Stenographer  and  typist 
Correspondence.     Enters  freight  cards 
Stenographer  and  typist 
Typist 

$12.00 

10.00 

10.00 

9.00 

18 

Railroad 

18 

Automobile 

17 

Printing  and  publishing 

IS 

*  Bureau  of  Attendance  Records,  igis- 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS 


135 


TABLE  XVI 

Office  Positions  Held  by  Girls  Fourteen  to  Eighteen  Years 
OF  Age  Who  Have  Had  Commercial  Training* 


Kind  of  Work 

Wage 

Age 

Business 

Bookkeepers  6 

Wage 
Range 
$&-$8 

Age 
Range 
1S-17 

Assistant  bookkeeper.     Does  general  office 
work.     Enters  charges  in  books 

Does  billing.    Answers  telephone.    Ix)oks 
up  charges 

Enters  charges.    Assists  in  bookkeeping 

Keeps  book  and  accounts 

Makes  out  bills 

Bookkeeper  and  stenographer  for  father 

$8.00 

7.00 
6.00 
6.00 

Department  store 

17 

Dental  supplies 

17 
17 
IS 
17 
17 

Printing  and  publishing 

Funeral— Undertaking 

Cashier  i 

Wage 

Range 

$6 

Age 

Range 

17 

Groceries 

Does  bookkeeping  and  makes  change 

$6.00 

17 

Clerks  15 

Wage 
Range 

Age 
Range 
14-18 

Glove  making 

Does  general  office  work 

Comptometer  operator 

Files  letters.    Assistant  bookkeeper 

Files  bills 

Operates  adding  machine 

Addresses  envelopes 

Assistant  bookkeeper 

Does  typing 

Files  letters.    Assistant  bookkeeper 

Enters  orders  in  books.    Keeps  monthly 

totals 
Writes  and  keeps  account  of  mail 
Answers  telephone  and  takes  orders 
Sends  out  requisitions 
Does  clerical  work,  filing,  etc. 
Answers  telephone  and  enters  bills 
Makes  out  bills  and  transfers 
Addresses  mail 

$Q.OO 
8.00 
8.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 
6.50 
6.00 
6.00 

SSO 
5. 00 
5.00 
S-oo 
5. 00 
S-oo 
S-oo 
3.50 

18 

Furniture  and  fixture 

Printing  and  publishing 

Printing  and  publishing 

Drugs  and  medicines 

Printing  and  publishing 

Tobacco 

18 
17 
17 
16 
18 

Instruction •  . 

Stationery 

17 

Mail  order  house 

Mail  order  house 

17 
17 

\l 

15 
15 
14 

Medical  instruments 

Mail  order  house 

Glassware  and  china 

Drugs  and  medicines 

Feathers 

Telephone  Operators  2 

Wage 

Age 
Range 
16-18 

Clothing — outer 

Correspondence  and  billing.    Does  typing 
Does  filin'g  and  writing 

$8.00 
6.00 

18 
16 

Furniture  and  fixtures 

Stenographers  and  Typists  27 

Wage 
Range 

$12 

Age 
Range 
16-19 

Law  and  collections 

Advertising 

Law  clerk 

Does  secretarial  work 

Does  bookkeeping  and  stenography 

Works  on  pay-roll,  books,  letters,  etc. 

Keeps  track  of  orders  and  letters 

Takes  dictation 

Keeps  records 

$12.00 

12. 00 
12  .00 
12.00 
12.00 
10.00 
10.00 

19 
19 
18 
17 

:i 

16 

Automobiles 

Liquors              .    ,    . 

Civil  service 

*  Bureau  of  Attendance  Records,  1915. 


136 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


TABLE  XVI— Continued 


Kind  of  Work 

Wage 

Age 

Business 

Stenographers  and  Typists— Continued 

Wage 
Range 

$5 • SO- 
$12 

Age 
Range 
16-19 

Box  making 

Stenography  and  bookkeeping 

Dictation  of  letters 

Takes  dictation.     Does  copying 

Has  entire  charge  of  office  dictation 

Does  office  work 

Files  bills.    Does  typing 

Does  bookkeeping.    Receives  and  answers 

mail 
Takes  dictation.     Does  office  work 
Switchboard  work  and  correspondence 
Copies  and  addresses  envelopes 
Tyf>es  all  legal  work 
Does  t3T)ing  and  stenography 
Types  letters 

Keeps  accounts  of  books.    Types  charges 
Fills  in  circular  letters 
Does  tjrping 
Types  and  files  letters 
Types  letters  to  subscribers 
Makes  out  bills 
Does  typing 

8.00 
7.00 
7.00 
7.00 

7.00 
7.00 
7.00 

6.25 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
6.00 
SSO 

16 

Printing  and  publishing 

Mining  and  mining  products . 
Real  estate             

16 
18 
19 
17 
17 

17 
16 
16 

Embroidery  and  lace 

Express  and  trucking 

Printing  and  publishing 

Law  and  collections 

Law  and  collections 

Hotel  and  restaurants 

17 
19 
17 
17 
17 
17 
17 
16 

Funeral— undertaking 

Department  store 

Real  estate 

Printing  and  publishing 

Department  store    

16 
17 
18 

Drugs  and  medicines 

TABLE  XVII 

A  Comparative  Summary  of  Opportunities  and  Wages  for 

Boys  and  Girls  Trained  in  Commercial  Work  in 

New  York  City — 191 5  Record. 


Boys 


Number  of 
Jobs 


Wages 


Girls 


Number  of 
Jobs 


Wages 


Bookkeeping 

Clerks 

Cashier 

Copy  holder 

Office  boys 

Telephone  operators 

Stenographers  and  typists . 


$8-$io 
4.SO-$io.oo 


$3 
$4-$6 


$6-$8 
$3-So-$9.oo 
$6 


$9-$I2 


$6-^8 
$S-5o-$i2.oo 


EVIDENCE  OF  TYPE  2.    THE  EMPLOYMENT  DEMANDS 
OF  CERTAIN  TYPES  OF  BUSINESS 

A.    An  Insurance  Company^ 

Our  study  of  all  the  office  positions  of  the  MetropoUtan 
Life  Insurance  Company  held  by  young  people  under  twenty- 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  Bertha  M.  Stevens,  Private  Commercial 
Schools,  pp.  111-13.  Public  Education  Association  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  1918. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     137 

one  years  of  age  cannot,  we  know,  be  accepted  as  a  study  of 
the  conditions  in  business  as  a  whole.  It  can  represent  only 
the  conditions  likely  to  be  met  in  a  large,  standardized  business. 
But  standardization  exists  on  so  extensive  a  scale  in  New  York 
City,  and  its  tendency  to  spread  is  so  great,  that  the  number  of 
workers  involved  and  likely  to  be  involved  is  sufficient  to  make 
standardization  a  matter  to  be  reckoned  with  in  questions  of 
training.  Everyone  who  has  contact  with  the  business  world 
must  be  aware  of  the  hordes  of  office  employees  to  be  found  in 
railroad  and  other  transportation  offices,  in  pubUc  utilities 
offices  such  as  the  telegraph  and  telephone,  in  wholesale  houses 
of  the  sort  which  maintain  estabHshments  in  several  cities,  in 
the  offices  of  large  insurance  corporations  and  many  other  kinds 
of  already  standardized  business.  Our  information  concerning  / 
the  positions  at  the  MetropoHtan  Life  Insurance  Company,  733 
in  number,  includes,  for  each  position,  the  workers'  definite 
statement  regarding  the  use  of  stenography  and  bookkeeping; 
and,  in  the  case  of  those  workers  who  have  had  commercial 
training,  an  additional  statement  regarding  the  general  value  of 
their  training  to  the  position  in  question.  As  Figure  12  shows, 
more  than  three-fourths  of  the  boys'  positions  and  nearly  all  / 
the  girls'  find  neither  stenography  nor  bookkeeping  useful,  as 
such;  not  one  position  finds  specific  use  for  stenography  and 
bookkeeping  combined;  less  than  one-fifth  of  the  boys'  positions, 
and  a  neghgible  portion  of  the  girls',  use  bookkeeping  alone; 
and  the  use  of  stenography  alone  is  for  both  sexes  neghgible. 
We  should  emphasize  the  point  that  the  information  here  sub- 
mitted came  as  direct  answers  to  definite  questions,  and  there 
is  no  room  for  conjecture,  in  so  far  as  the  workers'  opinion  is 
concerned.  The  representative  of  the  company  points  out,  in 
this  connection,  that  the  trained  boys  and  girls  are  likely  to  v  ' 
prove  more  desirable  than  the  untrained  ones.  Yet,  he  was 
willing  to  concede  that,  for  those  not  specifically  employed  at 
stenographic  or  bookkeeping  work,  something  might  be  taught 
which  would  be  more  applicable  to  their  work  than  the  ordi-  ^' 
nary  stenography  and  bookkeeping  training  which  conmiercial 
schools  generally  give. 


138 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


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WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     139 

B.    An  Analysis  of  Clerical  Employees  in  One  Large 
Flnanclvl  Corporation' 

TABLE  XVIII 


Number 

Position 

Age 

Education 

Experience 

Salary 

Male  Employees 

50 

Office  boys 
Messengers 
Junior  clerks 
Senior  clerks 

15-16 
16-18 
17-18 
18-22 

P.  S.  graduate 
I  yr.  H.  S. 
2-3  yrs.  H.  S. 
H.  S.  graduates 

3  mos.-2  yrs. 
6  mos.-2  yrs. 
3  mos.-i  yr. 
3  mos.-2  yrs. 

$  8-12 

10-15 

so 

75 

15-18 
18-25 

Female  Employees 

Clerical 
Typists 

fDictaphone      \ 
\Stenographers  / 

/Secretaries       \ 
\  Semi-executive/ 

17-ig 
19-24 

22-28 
2S-3S 

P.  S.  graduates 
1-2  yrs.  H.  S. 

fH.  S.  graduates! 

\  Coll.  graduates/ 

fH.  S.  graduates! 
ICoU.  graduates  / 

6  mos.-i  yr. 
6  mos.-2  yrs. 

2  yrs.-s  yrs. 
5  yrs.-io  yrs. 

$10-13 

8s    . 

13  15 
18-25 

ZO    •  . 

C.    The  Demands  of  a  Mail  Order  House^ 

Among  the  employees  of  Montgomery  Ward  &  Co.,  Chicago, 
there  is  a  definite  distinction  between  the  work  of  boys  and  girls. 

Boys  of  sixteen  are  used  in  merchandising  and  clerical  work. 
Under  clerical  work  are  classified  all  kinds  of  messenger  service 
between  departments,  which  is  considered  an  important  branch 
of  the  work.  Boys  are  assistants  in  the  stock  rooms.  They  are 
not  employed  in  any  division  of  bookkeeping,  but  several  of 
the  head  accountants  are  men.  As  the  business  is  conducted 
entirely  by  mail,  the  correspondents  are  important  factors. 
The  majority  of  them  are  men  and  they  are  called  "high- 
priced,"  being  paid  from  $25  per  week  upwards.  Ninety  per 
cent  of  the  clerical  force  are  women  and  girls. 

File  clerks  are  required  to  have  finished  the  eighth  grade, 
but  they  are  not  expected  to  have  any  preparation  for  business. 
The  first  step  in  teaching  them  filing  is  practice  in  sorting. 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  Gertrude  B.  Thayer,  Educational 
Director,  Jones  and  Baker,  in  the  Sixth  Annual  Proceedings  of  the  National 
Association  of  Corporation  Schools  (1918),  p.  104. 

'  A  statement  prepared  by  Mary  B.  Shelley,  19 18. 


I40  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Stenographers  who  have  finished  the  four-year  high-school 
course  are  preferred  and  such  stenographers  are  paid  $12  a 
week  to  start,  but  stenographers  who  have  had  only  one  year 
in  high  school  and  who. have  learned  shorthand  at  a  business 
college  are  employed  at  $9.  The  two-year  high-school  course 
has  sent  almost  no  candidates  here. 

Typists  must  be  sixteen  years  of  age  and  are  required  to 
have  completed  the  eighth  grade.  Typists  who  show  unusual 
ability  and  who  are  especially  good  in  English  are  given  an 
opportunity  to.  become  dictaphone  operators.  Dictaphone 
operators  are  graded  about  the  same  as  stenographers.  About 
twenty  stenotypists  and  one  shortwriter  are  employed  on  the 
same  basis  as  stenographers. 

The  accounting  work  is  done  entirely  by  girls  and  women, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  head  accountants  who  are  men. 
The  comptometer  is  used  in  large  numbers  in  the  accounting 
department. 

A  minimum  wage  of  $8  per  week  is  paid  in  all  departments 
and  advancement  is  regular,  but  not  automatic.  If  employees 
do  not  merit  advancement,  they  are  discharged.  This  policy 
is  of  recent  development.  Formerly  mediocre  people  were 
retained  and  advanced  slowly,  with  the  result  that  many  are 
still  employed  who  are  below  average  abiUty  and  who  are 
retained  solely  because  of  long  service.  Stenographers  are 
advanced  as  rapidly  as  possible  and  may  become  private  secre- 
taries. They  are  chosen  for  these  positions  because  of  executive 
ability  as  well  as  proficiency  as  stenographers.  The  salary  is 
"large."  Because  of  the  tendency  of  women  to  get  married, 
comparatively  few  of  them  are  made  correspondents.  Some  of 
the  best  correspondents  they  had  were  lost  in  this  manner  and 
the  management  became  discouraged,  but  they  may  be  obliged 
to  employ  more  women  correspondents  because  of  war 
conditions. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS    141 

EVIDENCE  OF  TYPE  3.    NATIONAL  SURVEYS  OF  COM- 
MERCIAL EMPLOYMENTS 

A,    The  Census  Enumeration^ 

TABLE  XIX 


Occupation 


Trade 

Bankers,  brokers,  and  money  lenders 

Bankers  and  bank  officials 

Commercial  brokers  and  commission  men 

Loan  brokers  and  loan  company  officials 

Pawnbrokers 

Stockbrokers 

Brokers  not  specified,  and  promoters 

Clerks  in  stores 

Commercial  travelers 

Decorators,  drapers,  and  window  dressers 

DeUverymen 

Bakeries  and  laundries 

Stores 

Floorwalkers,  foremen,  overseers 

Floorwalkers  and  foremen  in  stores 

Foremen  (warehouses,  stockyards,  etc.) 

Inspectors,  gaugers,  ana  samplers 

Insurance  agents  and  officials 

Insurance  agents 

Officials  of  insurance  companies 

Laborers  in  coal  and  lumber  yards,  warehouses,  etc. 

Coal  yards 

Elevators 

Lumberyards 

Stockyards 

Warehouses ^ 

Laborers,  porters,  and  helpers  in  stores 

Newsboys • 

Proprietors,  officials,  and  managers 

Employment  office  keepers 

Proprietors,  etc.,  elevators 

Proprietors,  etc.,  warehouses 

Other  proprietors,  officials,  and  managers 

Real  estate  agents  and  officials 

Retail  dealers 

Salesmen  and  saleswomen 

Auctioneers 

Demonstrators 

Sales  agents 

Salesmen  and  saleswomen  (stores) 

Undertakers 

Wholesale  dealers,  importers,  and  exporters 

Other  pursuits  (semi-skilled) 

Fruit  graders  and  packers 

Meat  cutters 

Other  occupations 

Clerical  Occupations 

Agents,  canvassers,  and  collectors 

Agents 

Canvassers 

Collectors 

Bookkeepers,  cashiers,  and  accountants 

Clerks  (except  clerks  in  stores) 

Shipping  clerks 

Other  clerks 

Messenger,  bundle,  and  office  boys  and  girls 

Bundle  and  cash  boys  and  girls 

Messenger,  errand,  and  office  boys  and  girls 

Stenographers  and  typewriters 


Total 


4,242,979 


161,613 

82,375 

27,552 

4,385 

1,088 

29 , 609 

16,604 

413,918 

179,320 

8,853 

170,235 

20,888 

149,347 

26,437 

20,604 

5,833 

13,714 

134,978 

119,918 

15,060 

125,609 

25,192 

11,312 

43,351 

22,888 

22,866 

125,007 

27,961 

34,776 

3,026 

8,858 

6,353 

16,539 

149,135 

1,328,27s 

1,177,494 

5,048 

4,823 

41,841 

1,125,782 

24,469 

73,574 

67,611 

8,074 

22,884 

16,952 


3,126.541 


175,772 

130,338 

14,705 

30,729 

734,688 

1,487,90s 

123,684 

1,347,992 

113,022 

6,973 

106,049 

615,154 


Male 


3,575.187 


156,309 

78,149 

27,358 

4,255 

1,066 

29,233 

16,248 

243,521 

176,514 

7,698 

170,039 

20,858 

149,181 

22,367 

16,565 

5,802 

12,683 

129,589 

114,835 

14,754 

124,713 

25,157 

11,244 

43,279 

22,859 

22,156 

116,602 

27,635 

33,715 

2,357 

8,836 

6,310 

16,212 

139,927 

1,249,29s 

816,352 

5,045 

1,639 

40,207 

769,461 

23,342 

72 , 780 

52,106 

4,988 

22,804 

10,711 


1,700,425 


159,941 

121,428 

10,514 

27,999 

375,564 

1,015,742 

118,944 

882,068 

98,768 

2,506 

96,262 

50,4x0 


Female 


667,792 


5,304 

4,226 

194 

130 

22 

376 

356 

170,397 

2,806 

1,155 

196 

30 

166 

4,070 

4,039 

31 

1,031 

5,389 

5,083 

306 

896 

35 

68 

54 

29 

710 

8,405 

326 

1,061 

669 

22 

43 

327 

9,208 

78,980 

361,142 

3,184 

1,634 

356,321 

1,127 

794 

15,505 

3,086 

80 

6,241 


1,426,116 

15,831 
8,910 
4,191 
2,730 

359,124 

472,163 
4,740 

465,924 
14,254 
4,467 
9,787 

564,744 


*  Adapted  from  the  Fourteenth  Census  of  the  United  States,  1920. 
Population — Occupation  Statistics,  pp.  9-1 1. 


142 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


B.    A  Private  Survey  in  191 7-18' 
The  questionnaire  asked  school  officers  to  report  on  the 
percentage  of  their  students  that  found  work  as  stenographers, 
bookkeepers,   and   clerks,   respectively.    The  following   table 
summarizes  the  reports  on  this  question:* 

TABLE  XX 

Distribution  of  Commercial  Students  into  the  Various  Types  of 
Office  Work  in  Which  They  Find  Initial  Employment 


Distribution  of 

Commercial  Students 

into  Various 

Percentage  Groups 

Percentage  of 

Schools  Reporting 

Stenography 

(94  Schools 

Reporting) 

Percentage  of 

Schools  Reporting 

Bookkeeping 

(87  Schools 

Reporting) 

Percentage  of 
Schools  Reporting 

Clerical  Work 
(62  Schools 
Reporting) 

Per  Cent 
1—25 

17 

46.8 

36.1 

81.6 

16. 1 

2.3 

82.3 
11.3 
6.4 

26—50 

According  to  this  table  stenography  is  very  commonly  the 
first  occupation  of  commercial  students.  Thirty-six  per  cent 
of  the  schools  reporting  on  the  number  of  their  students  who 
take  positions  in  stenography  declared  that  they  place  over 
50  per  cent  of  their  students  in  such  work.  Only  2.3  per  cent 
of  the  schools  reporting  on  bookkeeping  asserted  that  over  50 
per  cent  of  their  students  find  work  as  bookkeepers,  while  6.4 
per  cent  of  those  reporting  on  clerical  employment  stated  that 
over  50  per  cent  of  their  students  enter  business  life  as  clerks. 

These  figures  are  in  rather  sharp  contrast  to  those  shown  for 
the  city  of  Cleveland.  General  census  figures,  furthermore, 
show  a  large  proportion  of  office  employees  to  be  in  clerical 
positions.  Undoubtedly  the  terms  of  this  question  of  the 
questionnaire  were  given  different  interpretations  by  different 
persons  making  reports.  In  general,  it  would  appear,  however, 
that  stenography  is  a  very  substantial  stepping-stone  to  other 

*  This  material  is  reprinted  from  a  monograph  by  the  author.  A  Sur- 
vey of  Commercial  Education  in  the  Public  High  Schools  of  the  United  States, 
pp.  47-49.     University  of  Chicago,  1919. 

2  Where  the  word  "few"  was  used  on  a  report  it  was  taken  to  mean 
less  than  25  per  cent. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     143 

office  work,  and  is  with  great  frequency  the  type  of  employment 
first  secured. 

A  further  study  of  the  preceding  table  shows  that  of  the 
schools  reporting  on  the  percentage  of  their  students  beginning 
work  as  stenographers  46.8  per  cent  state  that  from  26  to  50 
per  cent  find  such  work;  17  per  cent  report  25  per  cent  or  less 
of  their  students  beginning  in  the  stenographic  field.  It  also 
appears  from  an  examination 'of  the  table  that  of  the  schools 
reporting  on  the  percentage  of  their  pupils  who  take  positions 
as  bookkeepers,  16.  i  per  cent  state  that  from  26  to  50  per  cent 
of  their  pupils  begin  work  as  bookkeepers;  81,6  per  cent  of  these 
schools  reported  25  per  cent  or  less  of  their  students  taking 
employment  as  bookkeepers.  Of  the  62  schools  that  reported 
concerning  their  pupils  becoming  clerks,  11.3  per  cent  stated 
that  26  to  50  per  cent  take  such  positions  and  82.3  per  cent 
reported  25  per  cent  or  less  of  their  students  taking  places  as 
clerks. 

C.    A  National  Survey  of  Junior  Commercial 
Occupations' 

It  is  important  to  remember  that  this  survey  includes  only 
commercial  workers,  i.e.,  boys  and  girls  holding  office  and  store 
positions.  Furthermore,  only  workers  under  eighteen  years  of 
age  are  included,  i.e.,  from  fourteen  to  seventeen  years  inclusive. 
It  was  the  intention  to  limit  the  scope  of  the  study  to  young 
employees,  who  are  eligible  to  receive  continuation  school 
instruction. 

It  is  perhaps  rather  significant  that  67  per  cent  of  those 
included  in  this  study  have  had  a  full  grammar  school  education 
or  better,  while  84  per  cent  have  completed  the  seventh  grade 
or  more.  This  would  seem  to  indicate  that  those  who  get  less 
than  a  grammar  school  training  do  not  find  their  way  into  the 
business  office.     Since  only  7,7,  per  cent  of  the  younger  office 

'  Adapted  by  permission  from  A  Survey  of  Junior  Commercial  Occu- 
pations in  Sixteen  States,  pp.  15,  17,  19-22,  24.  The  Federal  Board  for 
Vocational  Education,  June,  1920.  This  survey  was  prepared  under  the 
direction  of  F.  G.  Nichols. 


144  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

workers  left  school  before  they  completed  the  eighth  grade,  it 
is  safe  to  conclude  that  specialized  vocational  commercial  train- 
ing cannot  be  justified  below  the  eighth  grade.  A  larger  number 
had  received  one  or  more  years  of  high  school  training  than  had 
received  less  than  a  full  grammar  school  course.  Of  those  who 
entered  high  school  53  per  cent  finished  only  one  year;  28  per 
cent  left  at  the  end  of  the  second  year;  12  per  cent  remained 
through  the  third  year;  and  7  pdr  cent  finished  the  high  school 
course. 

It  is  evident  that  the  7  per  cent  who  finished  the  high  school 
course  at  seventeen  years  of  age  were  above  the  average. 
These  figures  represent  fairly  normal  conditions.  About  40 
per  cent  of  those  who  enter  high  school  leave  at  the  end  of  the 
first  year  in  most  cities.  An  additional  25  per  cent  are  gone  at 
the  end  of  the  second  year.  The  mortality  at  the  end  of  the 
third  year  is  always  small,  representing  those  who  withdraw 
because  of  sickness,  unexpected  economic  pressure  in  the  home, 
removal  to  another  city,  etc.  The  failures  are,  for  the  most  part, 
weeded  out  by  the  beginning  of  the  third  year. 

Of  the  number  of  junior  workers  who  had  received  some 
business  training,  36  per  cent  were  trained  in  high  schools; 
13  per  cent  in  private  business  schools;  20  per  cent  in  continua- 
tion schools;  and  the  remainder  in  the  junior  high  school, 
evening  school,  and  corporation  school.  These  facts  are  of 
no  special  significance  when  taken  alone.  They  may  become 
highly  important,  however,  when  considered  in  connection  with 
the  positions  held  by  these  workers,  and  the  kind  of  training 
they  had  received.  Of  those  who  had  received  business  training, 
37  per  cent  had  studied  bookkeeping  three  months  or  more; 
37  per  cent  had  studied  business  arithmetic  for  that  period  of 
time  or  longer;  46  per  cent  were  enrolled  in  the  business  writing 
class  three  or  more  months;  29  per  cent  of  this  group  studied 
business  English  at  least  three  months;  27I  per  cent  were 
enrolled  in  the  shorthand  classes  for  a  like  period;  and  41  per  cent 
had  received  at  least  three  months'  instruction  on  the  type- 
writer. A  negligible  number  had  been  instructed  for  this 
length  of  time  in  office  practice,  office  machine  work,  salesman- 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     145 


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146  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

ship,  commercial  law,  business  organization,  commercial  geog- 
raphy, and  junior  clerical  work. 

It  is  apparent  that  elementary  business  courses  are  organ- 
ized like  the  more  advanced  high  school  commercial  courses 
with  two  positions  in  mind — bookkeeper  and  stenographer. 
Busmess  writing,  business  arithmetic,  bookkeeping,  and  business 
English  make  up  the  usual  group  of  studies  that  are  offered  as 
an  adequate  training  for  the  younger  pupil  who  would  become 
a  bookkeeper  or  clerical  assistant.  Business  English,  shorthand, 
and  typewriting  represent  the  usual  preparation  for  stenographic 
work.  It  is,  perhaps,  significant  that  office  practice,  office 
machine,  and  commercial  geography  courses  reach  less  than 
5  per  cent  of  our  younger  group  of  business  students  who  seek 
employment  at  an  early  age. 

A  careful  study  of  the  list  of  jobs  which  these  boys  and 
girls  now  have  reveals  the  fact  that  business  training  that  centers 
around  bookkeeping  and  stenography  is  not  functioning  in  the 
cases  of  young  office  workers.  Again  it  is  apparent  that  a  number 
of  common  office  employments  afford  opportunities  for  training 
comparable  with  bookkeeping  and  stenographic  employments. 

Only  a  very  small  number  of  those  who  have  had  the  usual 
t3^e  of  business  training  are  holding  positions,  or  have  ever 
held  positions,  for  which  such  training  is  the  best  preparation. 
The  real  full-fledged  bookkeeper  is  but  one  of  many  office  workers 
and  his  work  has  become  really  more  important  and  correspond- 
ingly difficult  and  exacting.  At  the  same  time  much  of  the 
detail  or  routine  part  of  his  work  has  been  given  over  to  what 
may  be  called  general  or  special  clerical  help.  Thus  it  will  be 
seen  that  a  relatively  smaller  number  of  expert  bookkeepers 
are  required  and  that  only  a  fraction  of  the  boys  and  girls  in 
our  commercial  classes  have  the  necessary  aptitude  for,  inter- 
est in,  or  desire  to  train  for  this  vocation.  This  being  true, 
bookkeeping  will  henceforth  be  regarded  as  only  one  of  many 
very  much  worth  while  types  of  training  that  vocational  coun- 
selors must  have  in  mind  in  dealing  with  boys  and  girls.  Many 
other  types  of  commercial  training  will  be  regarded  quite  as 
important  in  meeting  the  requirements  of  modern  business. 


.    WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS    147 

Again,  the  stenographer,  too,  must  be  regarded  as  but  one 
type  of  office  employee.  The  prevalent  idea  that  to  be  trained 
for  office  work  one  must  have  the  ability  to  write  shorthand 

TABLE  XXI 
Distribution  of  Junior  Workers  by  Positions  and  Businesses 


Positions 


Messenger .... 

General  clerk . . 

Cashier 

Timekeeper.  .  . 

Shipping  clerk. 

Receiving  clerk 

Stock  clerk 

Switchboard  op- 
erator   

File  clerk 

Mail  clerk 

Bundle  wrapjjer. 

Delivery  -  wagon 
driver 

Typist 

Stenographer. .  . 

Dictaphone    op- 
erator   

Bookkeeper .... 

Entry  clerk .... 

Ledger  clerk 

Cost  clerk 

Billing  clerk 

Salesman  (retail 
store) 

Bookkeeping- 
machine  oper- 
ator  

Calculating- 
machine  oper- 
ator  

Duplica  ting- 
machine  oper- 
ator  

Addressograph 
operator 

Miscellaneous 
machine  oper- 
ator   

Statement  clerk. 

Collector 

Miscellaneous. . . 

Totals 


236 

163 

SO 

I 

27 

7 

106 

9 

S3 
32 
152 

85 
9 


1,444  324 


466 


219 


92 


61 


870 

447 

71 

25 

S6 

IS 

182 

246 
234 
171 
194 


28 


7 
24S 

3,S67 


must  be  put  aside.  That  business  schools  receive  calls  for 
stenographers  or  bookkeepers  only  does  not  alter  the  situation. 
The  training  of  these  two  types  of  office  workers  is  their  specialty 


148  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

and  business  men  think  of  theni  only  in  this  connection.  Fre- 
quently they  camouflage  their  calls  because  a  call  for  a  clerical 
worker,  a  file  clerk,  a  cashier,  a  cost  clerk,  etc.,  would  get  but 
little  consideration.  How  often  the  statement  is  made,  *'  Tech- 
nical skill  in  bookkeeping  doesn't  count;  what  I  want  is  a  girl 
or  boy  with  a  head."  It  would  pay  any  private  or  public 
business  school  to  ascertain  just  what  the  members  of  its  191 5 
class  are  doing  now  and  comjxire  their  present  occupations  with 
the  office  records  of  their  placement  to  see  what  has  happened. 
This  refers  especially  to  the  younger  students  whose  place- 
ments are  within  the  restricted  range  of  this  survey. 

It  may  be  significant  that  of  tlie  number  of  boys  and  girls 
included  in  this  part  of  the  inquiry,  only  13.6  per  cent  of  those 
who  had  received  instruction  in  bookkeeping  had  ever  been 
employed  in  bookkeeping  work.  Only  12  per  cent  of  those 
who  were  trained  in  shorthand  had  enjoyed  the  distinction  of 
being  employed  as  a  stenographer.  These  facts  may  prove 
nothing,  but  they  surely  furnish  food  for  thought  and  challenge 
business  educators  to  dig  a  little  deeper  into  their  problem  in 
the  hope  of  discovering  even  greater  opportunities  of  service 
than  have  hitherto  manifested  themselves. 

D.    Some  Challenging  Statements^ 

1.  Not  more  than  2  p>er  cent  of  commercial  workers  under 
eighteen  years  of  age  are  stenographers  and  yet  the  majority 
of  such  young  people  who  take  business  courses  study  shorthand. 

2.  Only  about  i  per  cent  of  such  workers  are  properly 
classified  as  bookkeepers,  while  practically  all  business  course 
students  devote  much  of  their  time  to  bookkeeping.  We  are 
not  getting  all  we  should  out  of  this  subject  and  the  time  devoted 
to  it  should  be  shortened,  or  the  teaching  method  should  be 
revised. 

3.  There  are  at  least  three  dozen  commercial  occupations 
that  are  worthy  of  serious  consideration  in  any  comprehensive 

»  Adapted  from  a  pamphlet  by  F.  G.  Nichols,  based  on  findings  of  the 
Special  Committee  on  Commercial  Education,  1920.  Later  published  as 
part  of  Survey  of  Junior  Commercial  Occupaiions  in  Sixteen  States. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     149 

plan  for  giving  business  training.  Commercial  teachers  are  not 
for  the  most  part  concerned  about  more  than  a  bare  half  dozen 
subjects  in  their  thinking.  Three  of  these  dominate  all  elemen- 
tary commercial  education  plans  to  the  positive  detriment  of 
many  boys  and  girls. 

4.  General  clerical  positions  bring  young  office  employees 
into  contact  with  more  people,  reveal  a  wider  range  of  aptitudes, 
offer  better  opportunities  for  advancement,  and  furnish  employ- 
ment to  a  larger  proportion  of  our  commercially  trained  young 
men  and  women  than  do  stenographic  and  bookkeeping  posi- 
tions. Special  office  practice,  however,  is  usually  reserved  for 
the  few  who  survive  to  the  end  of  the  long  four  year  course. 

5.  In  some  cities  at  least  a  third  of  the  commercial  occupa- 
tions listed  offer  salary  returns  quite  equal  to  those  made  in 
shorthand  and  bookkeeping  positions.  Such  jobs  are  not  to 
be  sneered  at  by  those  who  would  offer  commercial  training 
programs  that  will  meet  the  vocational  needs  of  all  who  are 
entitled  to  consideration. 

6.  Timekeepers,  receiving  clerks,  and  entry  clerks  frequently 
earn  more  money  than  assistant  bookkeepers  among  such 
younger  office  workers. 

7.  Office  machine  operating  requires  brains  and  training, 
public  opinion  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  To  be  a  good 
calculating  machine  operator  one  should  be  fairly  well  trained 
in  the  accurate  manipulation  of  figures.  So  far  we  have  been 
quite  content  to  "demonstrate  the  machine,"  rather  than  to 
teach  picked  boys  and  girls  to  operate  it. 

8.  "Telephone  girls"  require  training,  get  good  wages,  have 
good  conditions  under  which  to  work,  and  are  not  without 
promotional  possibilities.  In  numbers  employed  this  occupa- 
tion is  not  far  behind  the  other  better  known  business  employ- 
ments.   Some  girls  are  especially  qualified  for  this  type  of  service. 

9.  The  retail  store  not  only  claims  a  very  large  proportion 
of  our  very  young  people,  but  offers  exceptional  opportunities 
for  future  advancement.  However  only  a  small  fraction  of 
young  store  workers  actually  sell  goods.  Furthermore  only  a 
small  fraction  stay  long  enough  to  become  salespeople. 


ISO  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

10.  The  file  clerk  has  an  opportunity  to  render  exceptional 
service  for  which  a  high  salary  may  be  expected.  Contrary  to 
popular  belief  it  is  not  a  "blind  alley"  job.  In  our  commercial 
courses  we  fail  to  do  more  than  expose  our  boys  and  girls  to  this 
important  subject  which  is  especially  well  adapted  to  certain 
types  of  young  people. 

11.  In  at  least  one  city  twelve  of  the  occupations  listed  offer 
*'  special  opportunities  for  advancement. "  All  vocational  train- 
ing should  have  this  feature  definitely  in  mind. 

12.  Most  young  people  sense  the  need  for  more  of  what 
may  be  called  a  *' general  business  training,"  as  distinguished 
from  "special  training." 

13.  By  enabUng  those  who  have  dropped  out  of  school  to 
make  up  what  they  have  lost,  the  continuation  school  is  send- 
ing many  back  to  the  all-day  school.  What  does  this  suggest 
in  the  way  of  training  ? 

14.  A  modified  type  of  business  education  must  be  provided 
for  boys  and  girls  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age 
if  their  vocational  needs  are  to  be  met. 

15.  General  training,  motivated  by  conomercial  appHcations, 
must  be  furnished  along  with  any  specialized  business  training. 

16.  The  demand  for  traditional  types  of  business  training 
by  young  people  who  can  not  profit  by  receiving  such  training 
must  be  converted  into  a  demand  for  more  suitable  types  of 
business  training  by  educating  both  the  boys  and  girls  and  their 
parents  in  the  real  vocational  needs  that  have  been  established 
by  ample  evidence. 

E.    A  Senior  Commercial  Occupations  Survey* 

The  data  summarized  in  the  report  were  collected  by  survey 
conmiittees  in  the  following  cities:    Baltimore,  Md.;    Battle 

*  Adapted  from  a  Preliminary  Report  on  the  Senior  Occupations  Survey. 
The  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education,  April,  1922.  These  advance 
sheets  were  made  available  through  the  courtesy  of  E.  W.  Barnhart,  chief 
of  the  Commercial  Service,  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education. 

The  tables  referred  to  in  this  statement  appear  in  the  original,  but  are 
so  extended  as  to  make  their  inclusion  here  inadvisable. — Author. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     151 

Creek,  Mich.;    Boston,  Mass.;    Dallas,  Texas.;    Los  Angeles, 
Cal.;  Meriden,  Conn.;  Springfield,  Mass.;  Tacoma,  Wash. 

These  cities  include  three  of  our  very  largest,  three  of  inter- 
mediate size  and  two  of  the  small  (35,000).  So  the  figures  are 
truly  representative  of  commercial  occupations  throughout  a 
wide  range  of  city  conditions. 


A  CLASSIFICATION  OF  GENERAL  OFFICE  POSITIONS' 


EXECUTIVE 

General 

General  Manager 
Office  Manager 
Department      Execu- 
tives and  Assist- 
ants 
Accountant 
Auditor 
Comptroller 
Cost  Accountant 
Advertising 
Manager 
Credit  Manager 
Employment 

Manager 
Personnel  Director 
Sales  Manager 
Traffic  Manager 
Purchasing  Agent 
Minor  Executives  and 
Executive  Assist- 
ants 
Chief  Clerk 
Head  Bookkeeper 
Head  Stenographer 
Head,  Mail  Room 
Division  Head 
Chief  File  Clerk 
Supervisor,  etc. 


CLERICAL  t 

Stenographic 
Stenographer 
Dictaphone 
Operator 
Ediphone 

Operator 
Stenotypist 
Secretary 

Bookkeeping 
Accountant 
Bookkeeper 
Bookkeeping- 
Cashier 
Entry  Clerk 
Ledger  Clerk 
Journal  Clerk 

Recording  Clerks 
BiU  Clerk 
Collector 
Cost  Clerk 
Invoice  Clerk 
Order  Clerk 
Price  Clerk 
Payroll  Clerk 
Statistical 
Stores 
Time  Clerk 
Voucher 
General  Clerk 


MACHINE  OPERATORS 

Addressing  Machine 

Addressograph 

Bellknap 

Elliott 
Billing  Machine 

Elliott-Fisher 

Remington-Wahl 

Underwood 
Bookkeeping  Machine 

Burroughs 

Elliott-Fisher 

Ellis 

Remington-Wahl 

Underwood 
Calculating  Machine 

Burroughs 
Calculator 

Comptometer 

Marchant 

Monroe 
Card  Punching 

Machine 
Duplicators 
Graphotype 
Multigraph 
Mimeograph 
Photostat 
Telephone 

Switchboard 


*  Special  types  of  business  not  included  in  this  list. 

t  Special  clerical  positions  in  particular  businesses  not  included. 


152  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


EXECUTIVE 

CLERICALT 

MACHINE  OPERATORS 

PROFESSIONAL  AND 

Non-recording  Clerks 

Tabulating  Machine 

SEMI-PROFESSIONAL  J 

Cashier  (Coin) 

Typewriter 

Certified    Public    Ac- 

Errand boy 

countant 

File 

Senior  Accountant 

Mail 

Junior  Accountant 

Messenger 

Business  Service  Ex- 

Office boy 

perts 

Page 

Advertising 

Receiving 

Systematizing 

Shipping 

Traffic 

Stock 

Employment 

Correspondence 

Translating 

Commercial 

Engineer 

t  Special  clerical  positions  in  particular  businesses  not  included. 

t  Called  upon  to  render  special  services  occasionally  in  the  general  office. 

LESSONS   FROM  THE   SURVEY  FOR  COMMERCIAL   EDUCATION 

The  most  striking  characteristic  of  the  facts  thus  far  col- 
lected is  the  overwhelming  predominance  of  the  general  record- 
ing group  of  office  workers:  at  all  ages  for  men,  from  eighteen 
to  thirty,  this  group  contains  more  than  half,  at  times  five- 
eighths,  of  the  men  office  workers;  at  all  ages  for  the  senior 
women  this  group  leads,  though  never  in  so  great  a  preponder- 
ance as  with  the  men. 

The  general  clerk  is  the  foundation  of  this  group.  What  he 
does  is  a  composite  of  all  the  occupations  Usted  in  the  recording 
and  non-recording  groups  with  perhaps  an  occasional  bit  of  the 
bookkeeping  group  also.  On  the  whole  schoohng  for  the  general 
clerk  is  schoohng  for  this  group.  The  general  clerk  must  have 
a  knowledge  of  all  kinds  of  office  work  and  the  best  methods  for 
doing  the  great  range  of  tasks  which  falls  to  the  all-round  office 
worker.  The  general  clerk  is  not  buried  in  a  highly  speciaHzed 
field;  he  helps  everyivhere  in  the  office  so  if  his  preparation  is 
broad  enough,  he  has  the  greatest  opportunity  to  rise,  to  become 
a  supervisor,  an  office  manager,  or,  in  time  perhaps,  an  even 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     153 

higher  executive.  Obviously  then  the  commercial  course  should 
definitely  include  and  train  for  the  range  of  work  and  pro- 
motion which  the  general  clerk  has  before  him. 

The  training  of  a  general  clerk  should  be  that  which  gives 
the  widest  possible  knowledge  of  business  and  the  highest 
attainable  degree  of  skill  in  certain  kinds  of  office  work.  The 
general  clerk  should  know  what  services  are  available  from  every 
business  organization — telephone,  telegraph,  express,  post  office, 
railroad,  bank,  insurance,  credit  bureau  and  similar  business 
service  companies — and  more  important  still,  know  exactly  how 
to  use  each  service  with  all  the  common  precautions  observed 
by  careful  business  men.  Such  a  clerk  must  know  how  to  use 
office  reference  books,  guides,  directories,  rating  books  and 
should  know  how  to  read  the  daily  financial  and  market  reports. 
For  his  work  as  a  mail  clerk,  a  cashier,  a  file  clerk,  the  general 
office  worker  must  be  skilled  in  folding  and  handhng  large 
volumes  of  mail;  know  how  to  count,  stack,  and  handle  coin 
and  currency;  as  well  as  know  how  to  file  and  find  the  papers 
entrusted  to  him.  His  training  must  give  him  famiUarity  with 
all  the  usual  or  unusual  business  papers,  orders,  invoices,  state- 
ments, bills  of  lading,  domestic  and  foreign,  and  prepare  him 
for  all  the  everyday  problems  associated  with  making  out  and 
handling  these  papers.  A  properly  prepared  clerk  will  have  a  / 
penmanship  flexible  enough  to  permit  him  to  write  a  heavy  | 
hand  on  checks,  a  minute  hand  on  3X5  record  cards,  a  legible 
hand  in  pencil  on  duplicating  forms  whether  he  is  sitting  down 
or  standing  up;  he  must  have  also  a  knowledge  of  arithmetic 
extending  from  the  work  of  a  billing  clerk  to  that  of  a  payroll  or 
statistical  clerk.  In  order  to  do  all  this  work  such  a  clerk  must 
be  familiar  with  the  tools  of  the  office,  the  typewriter,  adding 
machines,  numbering  machines,  stamp  affixer;  kinds  of  papers, 
of  pens,  or  ink,  and  the  whole  world  of  common  office  appHances.  ^ 
For  his  success  as  a  worker  as  well  as  for  possible  promotion, 
he  should  be  acquainted  with  some  of  the  problems  in  managing 
and  conducting  an  office — especially  those  centering  about  di- 
recting workers  and  fixing  wages  and  developing  incentives  for 
increased  efficiency.     A  limited  knowledge  of  elementary  book- 


154  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

keeping,  enough  to  have  him  understand  the  use  of  the  cash 
book,  the  ledgers  and  how  to  post  could  be  included. 

An  analysis  of  the  bookkeeping  texts  now  in  general  use 
and  a  study  of  the  usual  methods  of  teaching  bookkeeping  show 
that  the  bookkeeping  courses  commonly  given  do  not  prepare 
for  the  work  of  the  general  clerk.  The  bookkeeping  as  custom- 
arily presented  is  too  narrow ;  it  has  too  strictly  in  mind  the  actual 
keeper  of  the  ledger.  The  texts  make  no  provision  for  teaching 
the  extent  or  use  of  common  general  business  services — the 
telephone,  the  railroad,  or  even  the  bank — nor  are  the  transac- 
tions of  any  one  kind  sufficient  to  afford  the  variety  of  problems 
necessary.  For  example:  to  teach  all  that  a  general  clerk  should 
know  about  filling  out  railroad  bills  of  lading,  negotiable  and 
non-negotiable  bills,  covering  shipments  of  all  kinds  to  all 
points,  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  bookkeeping  text;  hence  the 
three  or  four  now  required  to  be  filled  out  by  the  average  text 
do  not  give  sufficient,  nor  varied  enough  training  in  using  so 
common  a  form.  The  bookkeeping  course  as  now  organized 
.requires  too  much  time  for  financial  statements  and  the  theory 
of  debit  and  credit  and  does  not  devote  enough  time  or  atten- 
tion to  giving  accurate,  general  business  information  or  to 
developing  definite  office  skill.  Counting  college  currency  does 
not  develop  a  knowledge  of  how  to  handle  money,  taking 
inventory  of  cans  of  corn  in  the  shape  of  tiny  pieces  of  paper 
does  not  prepare  a  pupil  for  a  real  inventory. 

The  bookkeeping  may  have  a  place  in  our  commercial  educa- 
tion but  its  place  is  after  the  general  office  training;  not  in 
place  of  it.  The  bookkeeping  should  be  viewed  as  a  specialized 
kind  of  office  work  which  to  be  intelligently  done  should  be 
based  upon  a  wide  knowledge  of  business  services  and  subsidiary 
office  work.  It  may  be  a  proper  field  for  specialization  in 
the  high  schools.  It  is  not  now,  and  the  present  teaching 
materials — texts,  incoming  and  outgoing  papers,  etc. — do  not 
permit  it  to  be  an  introductory  business  course  fitting  for  general 
office  work  which  the  sixteen  to  twenty  year  boy  and  girl  are 
called  upon  to  do  when  employed  as  messengers,  file,  stock,  or 
other  clerical  workers  such  as  those  listed  under  the  recording 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     155 

and  non-recording  groups,  though  summed  up  in  the  work  of 
the  general  clerk. 

The  changes  in  the  high  school  commercial  course  needed 
to  give  the  general  office  training  outlined  are  not  extensive. 
In  place  of  the  present  bookkeeping  course  in  the  first  two  years 
of  the  high  school  there  might  be: 

FIRST   YEAR 

1.  An  elementary  course  in  Business  Procedure  and 
Practices. 

2.  An  Elementary  Office  Practice  and  Information  course 
one-half  year  on  a  double  period  basis. 

SECOND   YEAR 

3.  An  Advanced  Office  Practice  and  Information  course 
one-half  year  on  a  double  period  basis. 

4.  An  Elementary  Office  and  Commercial  Organization 
course  one-half  year  on  a  double  period  basis. 

Along  with  these  unit  courses  should  go  the  penmanship, 
arithmetic,  English  and  economic  geography  usually  taught  but 
each  should  be  modified  in  order  to  contribute  to  the  utmost  to 
the  preparation  for  general  office  work  which  business  demands. 
Typewriting  would  be  a  desirable  elective  here. 

General  clerical  training  will  be  far  more  valuable  for  the 
large  number  of  pupils  who  drop  out  of  the  eighth,  ninth,  and 
tenth  grades  than  the  smattering  of  unassimilated  bookkeeping 
which  now  furnishes  their  equipment  for  earning  a  living.  The 
Introduction  to  Business  Procedure  and  the  Elementary  Office 
Practices  and  Information  are  far  more  suitable  to  the  junior 
high  school  pupils  than  the  bookkeeping  or  shorthand  now  being 
introduced.  For  either  the  junior  or  senior  high  schools  the 
courses  as  outlined  are  constructed  on  a  unit  basis  each  unit  of 
which  is  valuable  for  the  boy  or  girl  who  must  drop  out  when  it 
is  completed  and  each  advanced  unit  of  which  tends  to  attract 
the  children  in  the  lower  classes  and  so  to  hold  them  in  school. 

STENOGRAPHY  FOR   GIRLS 

A  study  of  the  percentage  of  each  age-group  in  the  steno- 
graphic group  shows  rather  conclusively  that  there  is  little  place 


156  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

in  business  for  the  stenographer  who  is  less  than  eighteen,  and 
that  the  greatest  number  employed  are  between  twenty  and 
twenty-four.  As  eighteen  is  approximately  the  average  age 
of  graduation  from  the  high  school,  it  is  evident  that  there  is 
little  vocational  value  in  giving  shorthand  instruction  below 
the  third  year  of  the  high  school  course.  The  first  two  years 
can  be  used  to  far  better  advantage  in  giving  a  broad  knowl- 
edge of  business  practices  and  office  work  which  will  give  the 
immature  and  unexperienced  high  school  girls  some  background 
of  general  business  information  on  which  to  place  the  shorthand 
with  its  constant  assumption  of  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
business  situations  presented  in  the  dictation  given.  The 
occupational  figures  afford  small  consolation  for  those  who  want 
to  have  stenography  taught  in  the  first  two  years  of  the  high 
school  course  or  in  the  junior  high  school  so  as  to  turn  out  stenog- 
raphers at  sixteen  or  less  for  whom  the  business  man  has  little 
use,  and  then  only  because  they  are  cheap  workers. 

STENOGRAPHY   FOR  BOYS 

The  percentage  of  the  total  number  of  men  between  eighteen 
and  thirty  employed  as  stenographers  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  there  was  some  justification  for  teaching  shorthand  to 
boys.  However,  the  comparatively  small  number  of  men 
included  in  the  table  raises  a  doubt  about  the  relative  position 
of  stenography  as  a  man's  job  especially  when  occupational 
figures  from  other  sources  indicate  that  men  constitute  less  than 
5  per  cent  of  all  the  stenographers  and  that  only  a  very  small 
percentage  of  men  commercial  workers  are  found  in  stenographic 
positions.  In  general  it  seems  safe  to  say  that  stenography  is 
of  real  vocational  value  to  a  boy  in  two  cases  only:  First,  to 
follow  as  a  profession — as  a  public  or  court  reporter;  second, 
to  use  in  obtaining  a  position  close  to  an  important  executive 
who  will  recognize  the  superior  abilities  of  his  stenographer  by 
a  rapid  promotion  to  a  supervisory  or  executive  position.  This 
last  justification  is  based  upon  two  rather  slender  assumptions: 
first,  that  the  boy  is  of  such  extraordinarily  superior  ability  that 
he  will  be  reasonably  certain  of  promotion  once  he  finds  the 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     157 

right  office;  second,  that  this  marvel  will  find  a  ppsition  near 
an  executive  ready  and  willing  to  promote  him  to  the  awaiting 
vacancy.  In  either  case  only  the  unusual  boy  should  be 
admitted  to  the  shorthand  class. 

V^    THE  COMBINATION  COURSE 

Curiously  enough  among  the  returns  from  2600  commercial 
workers  all  of  whom  were  canvassed  by  commercial  teachers, 
there  has  been  found  but  one  stenographer-bookkeeper.  Evi- 
dently the  commercial  teachers  who  had  advised  or  required 
boys  and  girls  to  take  bookkeeping  and  shorthand  found  but 
little  to  justify  their  recommendations.  Combination  courses 
for  boys  are,  with  the  exception  of  the  boy  who  takes  shorthand 
as  an  extra  subject,  entirely  unjustified  as  preparation  for 
modem  business  positions.  A  few  girls  may  find  employment 
in  small  offices  where  a  combination  training  is  needed,  but  a 
good  general  office  training  will  suffice  for  all  the  bookkeeping 
work  to  be  done  in  so  small  an  office.  Stenography  in  the 
cities  included  in  this  survey  is  one  field;  bookkeeping  is 
another;  and  there  is  small  justification  for  requiring  either 
boys  or  girls  to  prepare  for  two  distinct  fields.    ' ' 

BOOKKEEPING 

The  ages  at  which  the  bookkeeping  group  employs  a  con- 
siderable percentage  of  workers — 20-27  for  men,  22-27  for 
women — seems  to  indicate  that  bookkeeping  is  viewed  by 
business  men  as  a  very  responsible  task  to  be  given  only  to 
experienced  workers,  preferably  to  those  who  have  had  expe- 
rience in  their  own  office  and  who  have  had  an  opportunity  of 
learning  the  system  and  routine  developed  in  that  office. 

The  absence  of  any  large  number,  or  percentage,  of  book- 
keepers below  the  age  of  twenty  would  seem  to  point  still  further 
to  the  fact  that  technical  vocational  bookkeeping  should  be 
given  in  the  last  years  of  the  high  school  course  only.  The 
schoohnen  who  teach  all  the  boys  and  girls  of  fourteen  book- 
keeping, that  only  a  small  number  will  use  vocationally,  and 
then  only  after  six  to  eight  years,  certainly  are  optimists  in 
the  value  of  cold  storage  education. 


Z' 


158  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

RETAIL   STORE   SELLING 

• 

Retail  store  selling  and  related  positions  hold  third  place  for 
the  senior  group  of  commercial  workers,  second  place  for  the 
juniors  and  second  place  for  both  groups  combined.  If  the 
financial  returns  in  store  work  are  equal  to  those  from  shorthand, 
bookkeeping  or  general  office  work  for  women,  this  field  is 
evidently  worth  entering. 

Training  courses  for  retail  store  service  as  generally  organ- 
ized in  the  high  schools  have  been  confined  to  the  last  two 
years. 

The  largest  field  for  coijimercial  workers  in  this  country  is 
found  in  the  retail  trade.  Store  work  for  men  holds  in  this 
survey  a  comparatively  small  place,  but  this  is  largely  because 
few  stores  employing  men  were  included  in  the  survey. 

MACHINE   OPERATING 

Machine  operating  seems  to  be  pre-eminently  a  woman's 
field.  The  modern  office  uses  typewriters,  calculating,  dupli- 
cating and  bookkeeping  machines  to  a  very  large  extent. 

Queerly  enough  in  the  development  of  commercial  educa- 
tion in  this  country,  the  demand  for  short  course  instruction  in 
the  public  schools  has  never  been  met  by  the  development  of 
machine  operating  courses.  The  operation  of  some  of  the  more 
complex  office  machines,  such  as  the  typewriter-bookkeeping 
machines,  should  be  considered  as  distinct  vocations  and,  if 
training  is  given  in  the  public  schools  for  these  fields,  they 
should  be  treated  as  separate  occupations. 

TRAINING  FOR   SUPERVISORY  AND   EXECUTIVE  POSITIONS 

There  is  an  interesting  difference  in  the  field  of  execu- 
tive positions  so  far  as  relative  number  of  men  and  women 
employed  are  concerned.  Only  a  very  small  percentage  of  the 
women  seem  to  rise  to  executive  positions  and  then  rather  late. 
Men  are  found  in  executive  positions  in  larger  numbers  and  at 
much  earlier  ages.  The  reasons  for  this  are  not  worth  while 
discussing,  but  the  schools  should  recognize  this  fact  in  the  type 
of  training  given  the  boy. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     159 

A  large  number  of  high  school  students — many  not  in  the 
commercial  department — expect  to  enter  business  upon  gradua- 
tion and  then,  through  family  connections,  in  a  short  time  to 
rise  to  supervisory  or  executive  positions  and  eventually  become 
independent  business  managers.  The  number  of  students  who 
have  this  program  in  mind  can  be  readily  ascertained  in  any 
school  by  checking  the  number  of  academic  graduates  who  enter 
business  without  having  had  more  than  a  course  or  so  in  the 
commercial  department.  For  many  of  these  students  the  com- 
mercial department  with  its  routine  clerical  bookkeeping  work, 
is  unattractive  and  often  belittled  by  family  and  business 
associates.  These  boys  will  not  go  to  college  and  they  will 
enter  business  with  no  understanding  of  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples which  underlie  our  present  business  structure.  Their 
equipment  in  this  respect  is  but  little  inferior  to  that  of  the 
graduates  from  the  conunercial  department,  for  no  place  in  our 
secondary  schools  has  been  found  where  the  social-economic 
subjects  which  give  an  insight  into  the  organization  and  struc- 
ture of  our  social  and  economic  life  are  taught. 

The  need  for  subjects  from  this  field  becomes  all  the  more 
striking  when  one  seeks  to  find  out  what  becomes  of  our  high 
school  graduates  after  a  business  apprenticeship  of  from  five 
to  ten  years.  Those  who  are  still  found  in  the  field  of  com- 
merce after  this  time  are  scattered  throughout  the  whole  field, 
but  only  those  whose  training  and  aptitudes  have  fitted  them 
for  promotion  have  risen  to  the  higher  positions.  Only  those 
who  have  gained,  either  through  schooling  or  experience,  an 
insight  into  the  principles  which  underlie  the  structure  and 
functioning  of  our  modern  business  organization  will  be  able  to 
take  an  intelligent  part  in  business,  civic  and  social  life  and 
become  intelligent  and  constructive  critics  of  the  faults  they 
find. 

Considering  the  need  for  a  broader  preparation  in  this  field 
of  economics,  of  business  and  social  life,  there  is  undoubtedly 
urgent  need  for  the  development  of  a  general  business  course 
in  the  commercial  department  of  the  high  school  which  will 
offer  as  electives,  during  the  third  and  fourth  years,  half-year 


l6o  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

courses  suited  to  high  school  students  in  the  following  fields: 
finance  and  financial  organization  of  modern  society,  market- 
ing and  market  organization,  labor  and  personnel  problems 
and  relations,  elementary  business  management  problems, 
elementary  economics,  elementary  psychology  stressing  indi- 
vidual relationships. 

Of  course  these  new  subjects  will  accompany,  not  supersede, 
any  specialized  vocational  courses  in  bookkeeping,  stenography 
or  retail  selling  which  may  be  offered  in  the  third  and  fourth 
years  of  the  high  school.  These  are  to  be  the  related  commercial 
subjects  which  will  furnish  the  background  for  the  technical 
commercial  courses.  They  may  crowd  out  some  of  the  college 
preparatory  courses  for  the  pupils  in  the  commercial  department, 
but  if  they  do  it  will  be  because  their  intrinsic  worth  for  those 
who  will  not  go  to  college  justifies  the  change.  Certainly  their 
holding  power  for  commercial  department  students  will  exceed 
that  of  the  college  preparatory  subjects  which  they  replace. 
In  the  program  of  the  general  high  school  student  who  does  not 
take  the  commercial  course  these  subjects  will  function  as  social 
science  subjects  and  should  replace  some  of  the  non-usable 
college  preparatory  subjects  ordinarily  taken.  The  teaching 
of  these  subjects  in  the  secondary  schools  has  been  demonstrated 
to  be  entirely  within  the  range  of  high  school  pupils  by  schools 
which  have  been  experimenting  with  some  of  these  subjects  and 
a  program  for  the  development  of  these  social  science  subjects 
in  the  secondary  schools,  including  the  teaching  of  these  sub- 
jects, has  been  recommended  by  several  committees  of  promi- 
nent educators  who  are  studying  the  expansion  of  the  social 
science  subjects  in  the  high  school. 

The  purpose  of  these  subjects  is  not  found  in  their  deferred 
values  but  in  their  possibilities  for  immediate  realization. 
These  subjects  will  function  at  once  in  giving  the  students  an 
understanding  of  the  business  world  in  which  they  work. 
Beginners  who  have  a  knowledge  of  these  fields  will  be  better 
employees,  more  sympathetic  and  willing  co-operators,  more 
discriminating  in  absorbing  and  interpreting  their  daily  expe- 
riences, more  intelligent  citizens  when  passing  upon  the  social 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     i6i 

and  economic  issues,  and  finally  somewhat  prepared  for  the 
problems  to  be  solved  by  the  independent  business  manager. 

EVIDENCE  OF  TYPE  4.    DIFFERENT  DEMANDS  FOR  THE 
SEXES  IN  COMMERCIAL  OCCUPATIONS 

A.    The  Evidence  or  a  Pkivate  Survey  in  191 7-18  on  Different 
Demands  for  Boys  and  Girls^ 

The  following  table  shows  that  high-school  principals  have 
observed  business  men's  requirements  to  be  quite  different  for 
boys  and  girls.  As  this  table  indicates,  nearly  two-thirds  of 
the  schools  reporting  on  this  question  indicated  that  a  differ- 
ence has  been  noted  between  the  requirements  in  business  for 
the  sexes.  In  spite  of  this  fact,  the  commercial  course  has 
persisted  in  giving  the  same  work  for  both  boys  and  girls. 

TABLE  XXII 

Observations  of  Principals  Concerning  Business  Men's   Require- 
ments OF  Boys  and  Girls  (66  Schools  Reporting) 


Noting  Different  Requirements  of 
Boys  and  Girls 

Noting  No  Different  Requirements  of 
Boys  and  Girls 

Number 

Percentage 

Number 

Percentage 

A1 

63.4 

24 

36.6 

Some  of  the  repHes  indicating  the  differences  which  have 
been  noticed  in  business  requirements  are  interesting  and  in- 
structive and  are  quoted  below:  ''Girls  are  wanted  mostly  as 
stenographers  and  bookkeepers  and  are  expected  to  merely 
follow  directions.  Boys  are  expected  to  learn  to  exercise  judg- 
ment and  initiative  and  advance  in  the  business."  "Boys  are 
expected  to  grow  up  with  the  business;  girls  are  expected  to 
remain  in  same  position  until  they  drop  off  into  the  troubled 
sea  of  matrimony;  otherwise  requirements  alike." 

*  This  material  is  reprinted  from  a  monograph  by  the  author.  A  Sur- 
vey of  Commercial  Education  in  the  Public  High  Schools  of  the  United  States, 
pp.  46-47.     University  of  Chicago,  1919. 


l62  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  how  definitely  these  comments 
fit  into  the  conclusions  made  in  the  Cleveland  survey,  where 
one  of  the  summaries  on  business  education  for  boys  reads  as 
follows:  "Boys'  training  looks  forward  to  both  clerical  work 
and  business  administration;  but  as  clerical  work  is  a  prepara- 
tion for  business  and  is  likely  to  occupy  the  first  few  years  of 
wage-earning,  training  should  aim  especially  to  meet  the  needs 
of  clerical  positions." 

This  same  view  of  the  need  of  training  for  administration 
for  boys  is  expressed  in  other  phrasing  in  replies  received: 
"Boys,  initiative;  girls,  routine."  "Business  men  do  not 
require  stenography  of  boys  so  generally  as  of  girls."     "Find 

little  difference;   but  Miss  C says  they  will  take  a  worse 

boy  than  girl  for  the  same  job."  "Most  business  men  want 
boys  who  can  eventually  become  salesmen."  "Girls  for  steno- 
graphic positions.  Boys  for  other  positions."  "  Greater  initia- 
tive demanded  of  boys."  "Looking  for  possible  salesmen  or 
executives  in  hiring  boys."  "Business  men  would  make  the 
central  aim  of  commercial  training  of  boys  the  fitting  of  them 
for  managerial  and  executive  positions,  while  they  think  of 
girls  as  only  worthy  of  high-grade  office  positions  as  stenog- 
raphers and  bookkeepers." 

Such  a  statement  as  that  employers  are  "more  lenient  with 
girls"  and  the  impression  that  "business  men  seem  to  be  more 
severe  regarding  punctuality  and  accuracy  with  boys  than  with 
girls"  remind  one  of  Miss  Stevens'  quotation  from  Potash  and 
Perlmutter:  "  Some  lady  bookkeepers  come  to  the  store  so  late 
and  goes  home  so  early  that  they  hardly  allow  themselves  enough 
time  downtown  to  go  out  and  eat  lunch  at  all."  "If  most  lady 
bookkeepers  would  spend  half  so  much  time  over  their  books 
as  they  do  over  their  hair  we  would  get  a  trial  balance  once  in 
a  while  without  calling  in  one  of  them  satisfied  public 
accountants." 

One  school  principal  seems  to  summarize  the  case  very  well 
with  the  statement:  "Generally  if  you  can  say  a  boy  has  pep 
and  a  girl  is  quiet,  you  have  satisfied  the  business  man." 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     163 

B.    The  Evidence  of  the  Federal  Board's  Survey' 

About  56  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  workers  canvassed 
are  boys,  and  44  per  cent  are  girls. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  only  8.9  per  cent  of  the  total 
number  of  boys  and  girls  included  are  fourteen  years  of  age. 
Of  the  boys  only  11.8  per  cent  are  in  the  fourteen  year  old  group, 
while  but  5  per  cent  of  the  girls  are  in  this  group. 

Of  the  total  number  only  22  per  cent  are  in  the  fifteen  year 
group;  26.6  per  cent  of  the  boys  and  16.3  per  cent  of  the  girls 
are  but  fifteen  years  of  age. 

Of  the  entire  number  33  per  cent  are  sixteen  years  of  age; 
32.7  per  cent  of  the  boys  and  32.9  per  cent  of  the  girls  are  in 
this  age  group. 

The  remainder  of  the  entire  group,  or  36.1  per  cent  are  in 
the  seventeen  year  age  group;  28.7  per  cent  of  the  boys  and 
45.7  per  cent  of  the  girls  are  seventeen  years  of  age. 

From  the  analysis  of  the  figures  given  on  page  164  it  is 
evident  that  fewer  girls  than  boys  enter  commercial  employ- 
ments at  fourteen  years  of  age.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
fifteen  year  age.  There  are  more  sixteen  year  old  boys  than 
there  are  sixteen  year  old  girls  in  business  positions.  This  is 
reversed,  however,  in  the  seventeen  year  age  group. 

In  the  future  it  is  quite  likely  that  differentiated  business 
training  will  be  given  to  boys  and  girls.  While  boys  and  girls 
are  employed  for  similar  work  at  the  outset,  later  promotions 
tend  to  draw  them  apart.  Their  ultimate  job  objectives  may 
suggest  specially  adapted  courses  for  either  group.  At  any 
rate,  special  vocational  training  for  boys  is  needed  earlier  in 
the  curriculum  than  it  is  for  girls.  In  states  where  the  continua- 
tion school  law  takes  effect  gradually,  those  who  are  making 
plans  for  the  fourteen  year  old  group  next  year,  the  fifteen 
year  old  group  the  following  year,  and  so  on,  will  find  in  these 
figures  some  evidence  as  to  the  probable  size  of  their  classes  and 

*  Adapted  from  Survey  of  Junior  Commercial  Occupations  in  SioUeen 
States,  pp.  35737.  The  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education,  June, 
1920.    This  survey  was  prepared  under  the  direction  of  F.  G.  Nichols. 


164 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


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WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     165 

the  division  of  the  enroUment  by  sexes.  Wherever  the  num- 
bers enrolled  and  the  work  they  perform  seems  to  justify  it, 
boys  and  girls  should  be  enrolled  in  separate  classes.  For 
example,  girls  will  not  be  interested  in  the  Shipping  Clerk  Course 
and  boys  can  scarcely  be  expected  to  require  the  Dictaphone 
Course.  Every  attempt  should  be  made  to  meet  the  individual 
as  well  as  the  group  needs  of  all  continuation  school  boys  and 
girls. 

TABLE  XXIII 

Distribution  of  Junior  Workers  by  Age  and  Sex 


Positions  Held  by  Boys 

and  Girls  from  14  to  18 

Years  of  Age 


Boys- 


IS 


16 


Girls 


IS 


16 


17 


Positions 
Paying  as  Well 
as  Bookkeeper 

and  Stenog- 
rapher Marked 
X* 


Positions 

Ofifering  Special 

Opportunity  for 

Advancement 

Marked  A* 


Messenger 

General  clerk 

Cashier 

Timekeeper 

Shipping  clerk 

Receiving  clerk 

Stock  clerk 

Switchboard  op)erator .... 

File  clerk 

Mail  clerk 

Bundle  wrapper 

Delivery  wagon  driver .  .  . 

Typist 

Stenographer 

Dictaphone  operator 

Bookkeeper 

Entry  clerk 

Ledger  clerk 

Cost  clerk 

Billing  clerk 

Salesman  (retail  store) .  .  . 

Bookkeeping  machine  op- 
erator  

Calculating  machine  op- 
erator  

Duplicating  machine  op- 
erator  

Addressograph  operator . . 

Miscellaneous  machine  op- 
erator  

Statement  clerk 

Collector 

Miscellaneous 


40 


Totals 219  491  608  528  73  240  482  670 


18  17 


xxxx 
xxxxxxx 

XXX 
XX 

xxxx 

XX 

XXX 

XXX 

XXXXX 

XX 

X 

XX 

X 


XX 
X 


XX 

xxxx 


XX 
X 


AAAAAA 

AAAAAAAA 

AAA 

AA 

AAA 


AAAAAA 

AA 

AAAAA 

AA 

A 

A 

AA 

AAA 

A 

AAA 

A 

A 


AAAA 
AAAAA 


j... 


*  Each  X  indicates  that  a  city  reported  the  indicated  position  as  paying  quite  as  well 
as  bookkeeper  or  stenographer.  Thus,  four  cities  checked  "messenger."  Each  A  indi- 
cates that  one  city  specified  the  indicated  job  as  having  exceptional  promotional  possibilities. 
Thus  six  cities  so  marked  "messenger." 


i66 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


EVIDENCE  OF  TYPE  5.    ANALYSIS  OF  JOBS  IN 
COMMERCIAL  OCCUPATIONS 

A.    The  Purpose  of  Job  Analysis  and  an  Example^ 

The  first  element  in  the  selection  of  appKcants  for  given 
jobs  is  the  determination  of  the  human  qualifications  necessary 
for  their  successful  performance.  This  is  predicated  upon  thor- 
ough study  of  a  job  content Often  job  analysis  reveals 

that  certain  qualifications  which  have  long  been  regarded  as 
necessary  in  applicants  for  given  jobs  are  not  essential;  and 
vice  versa,  it  is  often  discovered  that  qualifications  necessary 
to  the  successful  performance  of  certain  work  have  been  entirely 
overlooked.  In  making  job  specifications  care  should  be  taken 
to  distinguish  between  the  essential  and  the  desirable  qualifica- 
tions for  jobs. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  the  human  qualifications  looked 
for  in  applicants  for  the  same  job  by  different  employment 
managers,  and  then  to  check  these  against  the  qualifications 
determined  upon  by  job  analysis.  The  following  list  shows 
the  variety  of  qualifications  desired  and  indicates  which  of 
them  seems,  as  a  result  of  job  analysis,  really  essential  for  the 
jobs  in  question: 


Position 

File  Clerk 

Vjuaiincaaons  uesirea 
Five  Employment 
Managers 

Accuracy 

Neatness 

Industry 

Intelligence 

Concentration 

Carefulness 

oy 

Qualifications    Determined 
by  Careful  Job  Analysis 

Alertness 

Accuracy 

Love  of  Monotony 

Loyalty  to  Work 

Good  Memory 

Judgment 

Speed 

Orderliness 

Appearance 
Character 

Experience 
Training 

« Adapted  by  permission  from  the  Ninth  Annual  Proceedings  of  the 
National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools  (i92i),pp.  216-18. 

WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     167 


Position 

Hand  Bookkeeper 
(Bank) 

yualincations  uesired 
Five  Employment 
Managers 

Speed 

Experience 

Accuracy 

Penmanship 

Neatness 

Character 

ay 

4 
4 
3 
3 
2 
2 

Qualifications  Determined 
by  Careful  Job  Analysis 

Accuracy 
Penmanship 
Neatness 
Reliability 
Knowledge  of  Prin- 
ciples of  Bookkeep- 

Intelligence 
Dependability 
Industry 
Concentration 

I 
I 
I 

I 

ing 

Reliability 
High  School 
Education 

I 
I 

Money  Counter 

Accuracy 

Speed 

Integrity 

Concentration 

Patience 

Vigilance 

Neatness 

Industry 

Appearance 

Health 

Experience 

4 
3 
3 
2 

Accuracy 
Speed 
Patience 
Trustworthiness 

Typist 

Accuracy 
Speed 

Neatness 

5 
4 
3 

Accuracy 

Speed 

Neatness 

Experience 
Character 

3 
2 

Good  Memory 

Intelligence 

Dexterity 

Education 

Appearance 
Industry 

i68 


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WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS      169 


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I70  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

B.    Job  Analysis  of  Junior  Commercial  Occupations  of  the 
Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education' 

In  the  job  analysis  charts  which  follow  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  describe  briefly  the  duties  of  each  position  and  to  indi- 
cate the  training,  both  commercial  and  general,  which  junior 
commercial  workers  should  receive.  Promotion  is  more  a 
matter  of  the  quality  of  work  done  than  it  is  of  the  kind  of  posi- 
tion in  which  the  work  is  done.  Promotional  lines  are  not 
very  well  marked  for  junior  commercial  workers.  There  are, 
however,  certain  general  directions  in  which  boys  and  girls 
with  special  aptitudes  may  be  expected  to  advance.  Since  these 
promotional  lines  are  not  very  well  defined  for  workers  under 
eighteen  years  of  age,  the  suggestions  concerning  advance- 
ment and  promotional  training  are  given  in  a  separate  part  of 
each  chart,  under  the  heading  "More  remote  objectives  and 
training."  This  indicates  that  such  promotional  training  as  is 
suggested  should  be  given  to  commercial  workers  over  eighteen 
years  of  age  in  the  evening  school  and  other  types  of  extension 
courses. 

It  is  not  claimed  that  the  charts  which  follow  are  complete, 
nor  do  they  represent  an  intensive  piece  of  research  work.  They 
are  intended  to  be  suggestive  to  those  who  are  concerned  with 
the  continuation-school  problem  and  to  stimulate  continuation- 
school  commercial  teachers  to  such  further  investigation  as 
may  be  required  to  develop  necessary  instruction  material. 

It  should  be  emphasized  again  at  this  point  that  these  charts 
are  all  based  upon  the  data  furnished  in  connection  with  com- 
mercial workers  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  seventeen 
inclusive.  Positions  under  the  same  name  held  by  older  com- 
mercial workers  will  show  greater  variety  of  duties  and  the  need 
for  more  advanced  training. 

» Adapted  by  permission  from  A  Survey  of  Junior  Commercial  Occupa- 
tions in  Sixteen  States,  pp.  42-52.  The  Federal  Board  for  Vocational 
Education,  June,  1920.  This  survey  was  made  under  the  direction  of 
F.  G.  Nichols. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     171 


03      y      b  a  r-i  E    , 

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172 


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(a)  Textiles  and  other 
merchandise 

(b)  Commercial  law 

(c)  Salesmanship 

id)  Foreman  training 
(e)  Employment  man- 
agement 

g 

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receiving     depart- 
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(c)  Geography  — com- 
mercial 

(d)  Citizenship 

! 

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(d)  Merchandise 

1 
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d)  Marking  goods  for 
shipment 

e)  Weighing        ship- 
ments 

/)  Preparing  freight 
bills 

J?)  Looking  up  routes 

A)  Recording  ship- 
ments made 

i)  Mailing  shipment 
papers 

a)  Unpack  goods  re- 
ceived 

b)  Check  merchandise 
received  against  in- 
voice 

c)  Note  condition  of 
shipment  when  re- 
ceived 

d)  Checking    up    re- 
turned goods  and 
notifying      proper 
department 

e)  Be  responsible  for 
goods     until     re- 
moved    from     re- 
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/)   Receipt  for  freight 
and     express     re- 
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WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     173 


0 
z 

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(a)  English 

(b)  Physical  education 

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1 

(a)  Business  writing 
(6)  Business  organiza- 
tion 
(c)  Merchandise 
((i)  Business  practice 

Q 

(a)  Receiving  mer- 
chandise and  stor- 
ing it  until  requir- 
ed) Checking  it  with 
buyer's  order  and 
invoices 

(c)  Keeping  stock  rec- 
ords 

id)  Delivering  new 
stock  to  depart- 
ments as  needed 
upon  requisitions 
of  department 
heads 

(c)  Marking  boods  for 
identification 

(J)  Filling  orders  for 
shipment  direct 
from  stock 

(g)  Issue  sample  mer- 
chandise to  sales- 
man upon  requisi- 
tion and  keep  rec- 
ord of  such  items 
for  the  bookkeep- 
ing department 

(A)  Keep  record  of  re- 
turned goods  when 
restored  to  stock 

(t)  Prepare  inventory 
from  stock  records 
and  check  with 
merchandise  as  re- 
quired 

0 
»— > 

1 
1 

C/3 

1 

■* 

174 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


o 

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(a)  Advanced       filing 

courses 
(ft)  Efficiency  course 

(c)  Advanced  business 
correspondence 

(d)  Office  management 

(e)  Commercial  law 

(a)  Office  management 
(ft)  Advanced       filing 
systems 

(c)  Business        corre- 
spondence 

(d)  Economics 

1 

(a)  Chief  file  clerk 
(ft)  Superintendent   of 
files 

(c)  Correspondent 

(d)  Office  manager 

(a)  File  clerk 

(ft)  Chief  file  clerk 

(c)  Office  assistant 

(d)  Office  manager 

Q 

s 

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(o)  English 

(ft)  Physical  education 
(c)   Citizenship 
id)  Business        corre- 
spondence 

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(ft)  Physical  education 

(c)  Citizenship 

(d)  Geography 

1 

1 

(a)  Filing  systems 
(ft)   Card  systems 

(c)  Business  organiza- 
tion 

(d)  Lettering 

(e)  Typewriting 

(a)  Office        machine 

course 
(ft)  Office  practice 
(c)  Postoffice     regula- 
tions 

CA 

S 
a 

0)  Keep  stock  room 

files 
(k)  Notify    buyers   or 

department   heads 

when  stock  needs 

replenishing 

(a)  FiUng  letters, 
vouchers,  reports, 
etc.,  for  future 
reference 

(ft)  Preparing  folders 
for  special  use 

(c)  Planning  filing  sys- 
tems    for    special 
purposes 

(d)  Getting  from  files 
material  required 

(e)  Classifying         all 
material      to      be 
filed  for  easy  ref- 
erence 

0")  Keeping  index  card 
file  and  cross  ref- 
erence files 

(g)  Transferring  old 
material  to  "dead 
files" 

(o)  Sorting     incoming 

mail 
(ft)  Distributing  it 

(c)  Collecting        out- 
going mail 

(d)  Preparing    it     for 
mailing 

§ 

1 

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1 

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WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     175 


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delivery    mail    in 
and  out 

(f)  Handlingregistcred 
mail    in   and   out 

(g)  Dispatching     out- 
going mail 

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and    originals    to 
file  department 

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Difficult  to  suggest  di- 
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Promotion    will    de- 
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(d)  Salesman 

(e)  Office  manager 
Note.— The     office 

boy  or  messenger  has 
an  opportunity  to  gain 
useful  knowledge  about 
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WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     179 


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WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     183 


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(6)  Tying  knots 

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use      of      rubber 

stamp 
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ties 

d 
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or  girls 

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(d)  Ofiice  positions 

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WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS  189 
C.    An  Analysis  of  the  Work  of  Certain  Commercial  People* 

A.      THE   STENOGRAPHER 

The  Survey  census  report  shows  twenty-six  men  and  eighty- 
seven  women  stenographers.  This  occupation  was  especially 
analyzed  in  those  estabHshments  where  type  studies  were  made. 
Of  the  twenty  retail  stores,  only  four  employ  stenographers,  of 
whom  one  is  also  a  bookkeeper.  One  of  the  three  factory  offices 
especially  studied  and  the  telephone  company  office  had  no 
stenographer  and  the  two  factory  offices  each  employed  two. 

What  the  worker  does:  regular  duties. — The  stenographer, 
by  means  of  abbreviations,  letters  and  word  symbols,  records 
verbal  statements,  after  which  she  transcribes  them  on  the 
typewriter.  To  master  the  work  involves  the  knowledge  of  an 
alphabet  of  characters  used  to  express  words  phonetically.  In 
addition  to  phonetic  spelling,  short  cuts  are  made  by  the  use 
of  ''word  signs,"  which  may  represent  whole  phrases.  Some 
systems  of  shorthand  also  vary  the  position  of  the  symbol  in 
relation  to  the  line,  and  shade  the  pencil  stroke,  while  others 
use  neither  position  nor  shading.  Technique  involves  rapid 
writing  of  symbols  and  accurate  transcription  of  notes. 

In  addition  to  writing  letters,  which  usually  requires  the 
greater  portion  of  the  time  of  the  stenographer,  the  work  of 
nine  stenographers  studied,  two  of  whom  are  men,  involves 
answering  the  telephone,  receiving  visitors,  and  assisting  the 
bookkeeper  and  cashier. 

Special  knowledge  required. — The  special  knowledge  required 
involves  thorough  mastery  of  a  system  of  shorthand,  the  ability 
to  transcribe  notes  rapidly  and  accurately;  the  fundamentals  of 
bookkeeping;  and  general  office  procedure,  including  receiv- 
ing visitors,  answering  the  telephone,  weighing  packages,  and 
correctly  stamping  them,  and  correctly  using  filing  devices  and 
card  catalog  systems. 

What  the  worker  does:  special  duties. — One  of  the  stenog- 
raphers, in  addition  to  the  duties  already  described,  is  also  a 

'  Adapted  from  the  Report  of  the  Richmond,  Indiana,  Survey  for  Voca- 
tional Education.  Bulletin  of  the  Indiana  State  Board  of  Education, 
Indiana  Survey  Series  No.  3,  1916,  pp.  388-98. 


igo  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

bookkeeper  keeping  summaries  of  receipts  and  expenditures, 
records  of  charge  accounts  with  a  tickler  system,  and  all  mail- 
ing lists.  Another  stenographer,  employed  in  a  retail  store, 
keeps  the  cost  book,  makes  out  on  the  t)^ewriter  the  monthly 
bills  of  all  customers,  takes  charge  of  the  c.o.d.  money  returned 
on  dehvered  packages  and  keeps  the  daily  ledger.  Another 
attends  to  mail  order  business  and  helps  typewrite  customer's 
monthly  bills.  In  two  of  the  factories  the  stenographer  was 
required  to  do  billing  and  filing  and  in  the  other,  to  accurately 
copy  and  record  all  specifications  and  contracts. 

Special  skill  required. — In  stenography,  skill  consists  of  mak- 
ing clear  outlines  in  taking  notes,  and  of  using  the  typewriter 
with  accuracy  and  speed.  The  latter  is  analogous  to  the 
mechanics  of  playing  the  piano  and  requires  the  same  dexterity 
of  each  finger  acting  separately  and  the  proper  position  of  the 
hand  above  the  keyboard.  The  stenographer  should  also 
understand  the  mechanics  of  her  tool,  the  typewriter,  so  that 
she  may  quickly  change  ribbons  and  make  minor  adjustments. 
Considering  the  wide  range  of  the  stenographer's  work  in  Rich- 
mond, she  should  be  able  to  operate  adding  and  posting 
machines. 

General  edtication  required. — The  relation  between  educa- 
tion and  success  in  stenography  is  positive.  The  Richmond 
High  School  course  is  so  organized  that  none  can  be  considered 
a  commercial  graduate  who  is  not  also  a  high  school  graduate. 
The  school  considers  this  a  selective  occupation  which  only 
mature  and  well-educated  boys  and  girls  should  enter.  There 
are  many  gradations  in  stenographic  work  from  tabulating  or 
typing  envelopes  to  the  intricate  technique  of  stenography  in 
banks  and  railroads.  Success  in  the  former  type  of  position 
does  not  demand  high  school  training,  but  for  promotion  to 
more  responsible  work  and  for  a  high  degree  of  success  in  such 
work,  a  high  school  education  is  essential. 

Promotion. — ^The  most  significant  aspect  of  promotion  is  the 
differentiation  between  opportunities  for  boys  and  girls.  In 
Richmond  no  comparative  figures  are  available,  but  from  the 
table,  heading  this  chapter,  it  may  be  seen  that  157  men  as 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     191 

compared  to  eleven  women  are  employed  in  positions  of  ship- 
ping, cost,  bill  and  ledger  clerks,  which  are  positions  of  respon- 
sibility and  well  paid.  All  the  six  male  stenographers,  whose 
work  was  studied  in  detail,  have  opportunity  to  advance 
to  more  responsible  positions,  such  as  cost  clerk,  traffic  man 
and  rate  clerk.  For  the  one  woman,  whose  position  was 
studied,  no  promotion  was  possible  save  increase  in  salary. 
It  may  be  safely  said  that  women  usually  continue  to  be 
stenographers  and  promotion  consists  of  increased  wages 
usually  obtained  by  changing  positions.  For  young  men,  the 
stenographic  position  may  be  a  stepping  stone,  leading  to  con- 
tinuous advancement,  the  exact  character  of  which  depends 
upon  the  type  of  establishment. 

B.      THE   BOOKKEEPER 

According  to  the  census  returns  of  the  Survey,  there  were 
on  March  i,  191 6,  forty-seven  male  and  thirty-seven  female 
bookkeepers  in  Richmond,  in  addition  to  seven  males  and  thir- 
teen females  who  were  cashiers  and  bookkeepers.  This  study 
is  based  upon  a  careful  analysis  of  ten  bookkeepers,  seven  of 
whom  were  employed  in  six  store  offices  and  three  in  three 
factories.  These  ten  bookkeepers,  unlike  the  stenographers, 
have  no  general  office  duties  aside  from  answering  the  telephone. 

What  the  worker  does. — The  bookkeeper  keeps  a  systematic 
record  of  business  transactions  in  order  to  show  their  relation 
to  each  other,  and  the  state  of  the  business  in  which  they 
occur.  In  its  simple  aspects,  bookkeeping  involves  the  use  of 
the  day  book,  the  cash  book  and  ledger.  In  its  more  highly 
developed  aspects,  it  involves  the  use  of  specialized  types  of 
all  sorts  of  record  books  and  forms.  Naturally,  the  work  varies 
with  the  size  and  system  of  the  company.  Even  within  the 
limited  scope  of  this  study  it  was  found  to  range  from  a  simple 
journal  of  entries  to  a  highly  organized  system  of  accounts  for 
every  department  of  a  complicated  business.  The  simpler 
methods  are  largely  used  by  the  proprietors  themselves  in  the 
retail  stores,  where  no  office  worker  is  employed.  The  more 
complex  systems  are  used  in  large  factories  and  in  large  stores. 


192  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

A  typical  schedule  of  the  bookkeeper's  work  in  a  retail  store 
involves  keeping  the  store  ledger,  journal,  day  book  for  charge 
sales,  general  cash  book,  ledger  and  ledger  auxiliaries,  and  synco- 
pated journal.  The  syncopated  journal  groups  numerical  facts 
which  would  otherwise  have  to  be  recorded  in  several  different 
journals  and  involves  nine  groups:  Merchandise,  cash,  expense, 
interest  and  discount,  freight  and  express,  stock  accounts,  and 
bills  payable  and  receivable.  In  addition,  the  bookkeeper 
makes  out  statements  to  customers  each  month,  and  directs 
the  collection  of  unpaid  bills;  makes  monthly  summaries  of 
receipts  by  departments,  pays  firm  bills  (manager  signs  all 
checks),  takes  charge  of  letters  and  filing,  considers  questions 
of  credit,  if  the  manager  and  assistant  are  absent;  receives 
payment  of  bills  at  cash  window  and  makes  change;  receives 
and  adjusts  complaints  about  charges,  banks  cash  and  checks, 
and  keeps  the  bank  books. 

A  schedule  of  bookkeeping  work  in  a  factory  includes 
keeping  ledger,  synoptic  ledger  and  cash  book;  entering  all 
shipments;  and  summarizing  statements  from  pay-roll.  The 
work  requires  the  adding  machine  in  obtaining  totals.  The 
detailed  work  of  factory  accounting  is  described  in  the  discussion 
of  the  cost  clerk. 

Special  knowledge  required. — ^Aside  from  a  thorough  working 
knowledge  of  all  types  of  bookkeeping,  the  bookkeeper  must 
know  the  commodities  of  the  company  which  are  sold  or  manu- 
factured, as  well  as  the  business  details  of  office  procedure  in 
municipal  and  institutional  offices.  A  knowledge  of  transpor- 
tation and  how  to  obtain  accurate  information  about  mercan- 
tile rates  should  be  a  part  of  the  equipment  of  every  book- 
keeper who  pays  bills  on  freight  and  express.  How  to  bank, 
how  to  compute  interest  and  discount,  and  ■  all  the  multi- 
tudinous details  of  office  technique  must  be  known  by  the 
bookkeeper. 

Special  skill  required. — Success  in  bookkeeping  and  account- 
ing depends  upon  mental  rather  than  manual  skill,  but  the 
mental  equipment  is  worthless  without  skill  in  penmanship  and 
in  operating  an  adding  machine. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     193 

General  education  required. — What  has  been  written  con- 
cerning the  general  education  needed  by  the  stenographer, 
applies  to  the  bookkeeper  with  the  reservation  that  the  stenog- 
rapher, in  order  to  advance  to  highly  paid  positions,  must  have 
an  accurate  knowledge  of  English  and  general  information.  The 
bookkeeper  is  more  of  a  specialist,  having  less  general  contact 
with  the  public  than  the  stenographer,  and  if  highly  expert  in 
accounting,  can  fill  a  position  whether  a  high  school  graduate  or 
not.  On  the  other  hand,  difficult  problems  in  bookkeeping 
require  a  trained  mind  which  higher  education  develops. 
Such  advanced  positions  as  treasurer,  purchasing  agent,  or 
secretary  could  not  be  filled  by  an  average  person  without  more 
than  eighth  grade  education. 

Mental  and  physical  requirements. — Practically  no  attempt 
has  been  made  to  discover  the  quahfications  for  success  in  this 
work.  Ability  to  analyze  a  problem  and  invent  solutions  for 
new  problems  are  certainly  essential  for  success.  The  steadi- 
ness and  reliability  of  character  needed  by  this  worker,  who 
handles  large  sums  of  money  often  with  very  little  supervision, 
cannot  be  overestimated.  They  are  distinguishing  features  of 
this  position. 

Promotion. — ^The  position  of  bookkeeper  is  sometimes  filled 
by  promoting  the  assistant  bookkeeper  or  cashier.  "Once  a 
bookkeeper,  always  a  bookkeeper,"  is  a  slogan  whose  truth  is 
attested  by  the  fact  that  all  the  ten  bookkeepers  found  in  these 
type  studies  have  held  their  positions  for  many  years  and  do  not 
expect  to  change  them.  The  position  of  treasurer  or  secretary 
of  the  company  is  sometimes  filled  by  promoting  the  bookkeeper 
and  there  is  more  possibility  of  such  advancement  for  men  than 
for  women. 

Source  and  selection  of  workers. — ^The  responsible  post  of 
bookkeeper  is  seldom  filled  in  any  establishment  by  taking  a 
new  worker  from  a  school.  The  subordinate  positions  of 
ledger  clerk  or  assistant  bookkeepers  may  be  filled  by  inex- 
perienced graduates  of  business  courses  but  advanced  positions 
or  general  bookkeepers  require  experience  as  well  as  special 
training. 


194  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

C.      THE  CASHIER 

According  to  the  Survey  census  returns,  there  were  twenty- 
seven  male  and  fifteen  female  cashiers  in  Richmond  in  March, 
1916.  Type  studies  were  made  of  seven  cashiers,  two  of  whom 
had  bookkeeping  duties,  also. 

Type  of  work. — The  term  "cashier"  applies  to  two  entirely 
different  kinds  of  work:  taking  in  money  direct  on  sales,  mak- 
ing change  and  keeping  a  simple  record  of  the  transactions; 
and  the  issuing  of  money  for  the  pay-roll,  and  paying  company 
bills.  The  cashier  in  the  retail  store  often  has  some  general 
duties  to  perform,  such  as  helping  the  bookkeeper  in  the  dry- 
goods  store  and  making  sales  in  the  grocery  store.  The  cashier 
of  the  large  establishment  may  be  responsible  for  seeing  that  the 
books  are  correctly  kept. 

What  the  worker  does. — ^As  the  work  of  each  of  the  seven 
cashiers  is  distinctive  in  some  respect,  the  detailed  schedule  of 
the  day's  work  of  each  will  be  reported. 

1.  The  worker  collects  the  money  from  the  cash  register, 
totals  it  and  checks  it  against  the  amount  of  sales  which  are 
cashed  up  on  the  register  during  the  day.  She  does  the  banking, 
makes  out  invoices,  and  keeps  a  record  of  incoming  merchandise. 

2.  The  cashier  checks  sales  slips,  foots  extensions  and  totals, 
and  makes  change,  which  is  sent  back  by  the  carrier  to  the 
sales  girl.  Every  morning  she  receives  money  from  the  book- 
keeper, for  which  she  accounts.  Ever>^  evening  she  totals  the 
cash  and  checks  it  with  cash  sales  slips  and  the  original  sum 
received.     She  also  keeps  a  cash  book. 

3.  The  cashier  sits  at  a  desk  on  the  first  floor  and  makes 
change  for  the  salesmen,  ringing  up  the  cash  in  the  register 
according  to  the  number  of  each  salesman.  By  this  means  she 
keeps  a  record  of  individual  sales.  She  receives  the  charge 
sales  slips  from  the  clerks  on  the  floor,  which  she  enters  to  the 
customer's  account,  adding  the  total  of  the  sale  on  the  face  of 
the  envelope  within  which  is  placed  the  sales  slip.  At  the  end 
of  each  week  or  month,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  cus- 
tomer's payments,  on  charge  accounts  she  obtains  totals  by 
the  adding  machine,  with  the  bill  and  the  sale  slip.     She  type- 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     195 

writes  invoices  for  individual  customer's  bills;  fills  out  the 
regular  form  for  cash  sales  at  the  end  of  the  day,  which,  in  turn, 
are  collected  for  statement  at  the  end  of  the  week;  answers 
telephones  and  if  not  engaged,  and  all  salespersons  are  busy, 
she  waits  on  customers.     She  also  does  the  banking. 

4.  The  cashier  is  the  head  of  the  tube  system,  making 
change  for  all  sales.  T^his  tube  system  is  also  used  for  shoot- 
ing messages  to  any  part  of  the  building  or  the  warehouse. 
All  the  messages  go  to  the  cashier,  who  re-routes  them  when 
necessar>'.  She  keeps  the  index  file  of  individual  customers  and 
records  bill  payments;  and  keeps  the  cash  book  and  records 
amoimts  of  sales  by  departments.  P"or  "fill  in  work"  at  odd 
moments,  she  does  typing. 

5  and  6.  They  inspect  sales  slips  and  make  change  in  the 
cash  balcony;  record  charge  sales,  entering  them  in  cash  book 
according  to  departments;  file  sales  slips  by  the  clerk's  number, 
total  each  clerk's  cash  and  charge  sales,  and  enter  them  in 
record  books  by  clerks  and  departments.  The  assistant  cashier 
does  odd  jobs  in  the  office  and  assists  in  writing  letters. 

7.  The  head  bookkeeper  or  cashier  has  full  charge  of  general 
ledgers  and  all  cash.  He  banks,  pays  bills  of  the  house,  and 
makes  out  all  checks.  He  also  makes  out  order  cards  for 
machines  and  sends  "manifest"  to  the  repair  man. 

General  education  required. — Some  high  school  training  is 
required  for  cashiers.  Of  these  studied  the  majority  of  workers 
had  more  than  eighth  grade  education.  Knowledge  of  arith- 
metic and  banking  is  needed,  and  in  the  higher  positions  which 
bring  the  worker  in  contact  with  the  public,  advanced  general 
education  is  essential. 

How  special  knowledge  and  skill  are  obtained. — Employers 
interviewed  for  this  study  stated  that  most  cashiers  of  the  less 
expert  type  can  get  what  special  knowledge  they  need  on  the 
job,  provided  they  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of  commercial 
arithmetic  and  bookkeeping.  The  necessary  training  hi  these 
two  fields  must  be  obtained  in  school. 

Mental  and  physical  requirements. — ^Accuracy  and  rapidity 
in  counting  and  computing  change  is  necessary  for  success  as  a 


196  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

cashier.  The  qualifications  of  the  expert  cashier  are  practically 
the  same  as  for  the  bookkeeper. 

Promotion. — The  cashier  may  become  bookkeeper,  since 
part  of  the  required  duties  are  to  prepare  statements  for  the 
bookkeeper. 

Source  and  selection  of  workers. — Workers  are  taken  from 
the  outside  or  from  the  sales  force.  In  the  latter  case  they  are 
chosen  because  of  their  alertness  and  knowledge  of  the  business. 

Seasonableness  and  overtime. — The  cashier  in  the  retail  store 
has  the  same  hours  as  the  salesperson.  In  order  to  get  the  day's 
balance,  some  overtime  is  occasionally  required.  Their  work 
is  not  seasonable. 

Hazards  and  inherent  character  of  work. — ^The  work  is  con- 
fining and  responsible  in  character,  involving  all  the  mental 
and  physical  strains  of  a  confining,  sedentary  life. 

Wages. — Of  three  schedules  received  for  retail  cashiers,  two 
quoted  wages  at  six  and  one  thirty  dollars  per  week. 

D.      THE  CLERK 

The  term  clerk  has  been  used  to  designate  a  group  of  workers 
which  could  not  be  classified  elsewhere.  The  range  includes 
clerical  workers,  bill  clerks,  stock,  shipping,  and  receiving  clerks, 
file  clerks,  timekeepers,  and  cost  and  statistical  clerks.  Clerical 
work,  except  in  the  railroad  office,  usually  is  the  most  sub- 
ordinate form  of  office  work.  Statistical  and  cost  clerks,  at 
the  other  end  of  the  scale,  are  the  most  expert  positions  requiring 
specialists  who  are  well  remunerated. 

Number  employed. — In  Richmond  there  were  217  males  and 
36  females  designated  as  clerks  working  in  various  offices.  It 
will  be  noted  in  the  opening  of  this  chapter,  that  the  majority 
of  clerks  were  employed  in  railroad  and  express  offices,  and  the 
offices  of  shops  and  factories. 

Definitions  of  various  types  of  clerks. — ^The  clerical  worker 
keeps  records,  opens  and  distributes  mail,  writes  tags  and  slips 
and  does  checking  and  posting.  In  the  railroad  office,  however, 
the  term  is  more  loosely  used  and  includes  such  experts  as  the 
rate  clerk  and  the  chief  clerk,  whose  work  is  not  only  highly 
specialized  but  executive. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     197 

The  bill  clerk  prepares  invoices,  usually  on  a  typewriter  or 
billing  machine.  There  are  very  few  bill  clerks  in  Richmond, 
except  in  railroad  ofl&ces.  This  work  sometimes  involves 
rechecking  figures. 

Stock  clerks  keep  records  of  all  materials  in  the  stock  room 
and  records  of  all  materials  issued.  Stock  is  usually  issued  in 
accordance  with  signed  requisitions  which  are  checked  against 
the  department. 

The  shipping  clerk  works  in  the  office  and  warehouse,  check- 
ing and  supervising  outgoing  material.  The  receiving  clerk  is 
in  charge  of  incoming  material,  checking  it  against  the  invoice 
for  quality,  quantity  and  condition. 

The  file  clerk  is  employed  to  correctly  file  away  all  corre- 
spondence, orders,  contracts  and  papers  of  the  firm.  The  order 
is  generally  alphabetical,  with  folders  for  correspondence  and 
cards  for  reference  tabulation.  It  is  the  file  clerk's  duty  to  keep 
the  orders  correctly  filed  and  find  such  material  as  is  needed 
for  reference  by  the  other  clerks. 

The  timekeeper  summarizes  the  time  for  all  departments, 
computing  the  wage  for  each  worker.  In  one  factory  the  cost 
clerk  is  also  timekeeper.  Frequently  the  foreman  of  the  depart- 
ment keeps  the  time  of  the  employees  under  him.  If  the  work 
is  on  a  piece  basis,  the  time  put  in  by  the  men  is  important  only 
as  a  record  of  efficiency.  One  employer  stated  that  the  wage 
received  by  this  clerk  was  about  seventy-five  dollars  a  month. 

Statistical  and  cost  clerks  are  experts  engaged  in  analyzing 
the  production  costs  of  all  departments  in  order  to  determine 
the  parts  of  the  business  which  are  most  and  least  profitable, 
the  proportionate  cost  of  labor,  raw  materials  and  overhead 
expense.  It  is  on  the  basis  of  these  computations  that  prices 
are  fixed,  that  charges  on  output  are  made,  that  wages  are  cut 
or  raised,  and  that  sales  are  directed. 

^  D.    A  Job  Analysis  of  Retail  Selling* 

The  girl  who  sells  handkerchiefs  must  have  a  knowledge  of 

linen,  lawn,  cotton,  mercerized  cotton,   shamrock,   and  light 

''Adapted  from  Minneapolis  Vocational  Education  Survey y  pp.  408-17. 
Bulletin  of  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor,  No.  199,  1916. 


1 98  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

silks.  She  should  know  the  combination  of  fibers  used  and  be 
able  to  tell  from  the  appearance  and  feeling  just  what  is  the 
combination  in  a  particular  handkerchief.  For  example,  she 
should  know  that  in  certain  high-priced  handkerchiefs  the 
thread  running  one  way  is  linen  and  that  running  the  other 
shamrock.  She  should  know  that  this  makes  a  more  sheer  and 
a  softer-looking  handkerchief  than  pure  linen,  but  is  not  so 
durable,  she  should  know  that  French  linens,  because  of  their 
greater  brilliancy,  are  more  desirable  than  Irish  linens.  She 
should  know  the  difference  between  domestic  and  foreign 
goods,  between  hand  and  machine  embroidering,  between 
punched  and  pulled  hems,  between  real  and  Armenian  lace,  and 
between  either  of  these  and  imitations.  She  should  know 
which  colors  are  fast  and  which  are  likely  to  fade  so  that  she 
can  tell  the  customer  about  the  care  needed  in  laundering. 

Most  persons  are  not  in  a  hurry  when  buying  handker- 
chiefs, so  the  girl  must  have  the  skill  to  give  many  points  as 
to  value  in  beauty  and  wearing  qualities,  and  to  show  goods  in 
detail.  She  should  like  details  and  be  perfectly  famiUar  with 
the  workmanship  on  handkerchiefs.  The  work  does  not  require 
measuring  or  estimating  fractional  parts,  so  computations  are 
easy. 

The  sales  person  who  sells  hosiery  may  sell  knitted  under- 
wear. Though  usually  sold  in  different  departments,  these 
goods  have  many  points  in  common.  The  same  methods  of 
manufacture  and  the  same  materials  are  used  to  a  great  extent. 
The  sales  person  should  know  sizes,  full-fashion,  seamless,  and 
outsize  hosiery;  pure  dye  silks,  thread  silk,  loaded  or  plated 
silk;  the  various  grades  of  cotton,  lisle,  mercerized,  and  wool 
mixtures,  and  weights  used;  and  be  able  to  use  this  knowledge 
in  selling  the  various  kinds  of  stock.  It  is  desirable  that  the 
different  kinds  of  knitting  used  should  be  understood.  She  is 
frequently  called  upon  to  estimate  the  size  the  customer  needs, 
especially  in  children's  wear;  so  should  be  able  to  jftdge  from 
the  size  of  the  shoe  or  the  age  of  the  child. 

The  sales  person  who  sells  gloves  should  know  the  leathers 
and  fabrics  used,  care  of  gloves,  and  how  to  fit  all  kinds.     The 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     199 

knowledge  of  fabrics  should  cover  silk,  cotton,  lisle,  and  chamoi- 
settes,  that  of  leathers  should  cover  lamb  leathers  such  as 
capeskins,  mochas,  chamois,  and  dogskins,  and  kid  leathers 
such  as  suede. 

A  saleswoman's  interest  in  her  work  should  be  increased  by 
knowing  that  the  softness  and  durability  of  glove  leather 
depends  on  the  age  of  the  animal  and  the  place  where  it  was 
raised;  that  leather  from  skins  taken  from  the  young  of  hardy, 
mountain-climbing  sheep  is  stronger  than  that  from  the  young 
of  animals  which  browse  in  lowlands  and  on  plains,  and  that  the 
best  gloves  are  made  from  skins  of  kids  found  in  the  south- 
eastern part  of  France. 

She  should  know  enough  about  gloves  to  make  the  customer 
?mderstand  that  care  must  be  exercised  in  washing  a  doeskin 
glove  because  it  is  the  process  of  manufacture  and  not  the 
leather  itself  which  has  made  it  washable.  She  should  know 
the  various  parts  of  a  glove;  the  different  stitchings — spear, 
plain,  filet,  and  three-row;  and  the  different  methods  of  seam- 
ing, such  as  Prix  seam,  pique,  and  round  seam,  and  the  cus- 
tomary usages  and  peculiar  merits  of  each.  If  she  understands 
the  manufacture  of  gloves  she  can  explain  the  difference  in 
durabiUty,  softness,  and  purpose  of  each  style  of  glove  and  can 
give  the  customer  much  acceptable  information  about  their 
proper  care. 

A  saleswoman  must  know  how  to  use  the  stretcher  and 
powder.  She  must  be  able  to  fit  gloves  and  to  judge  by  look- 
ing at  a  woman's  hand  what  size  glove  to  try.  She  should 
know  the  best  position  for  the  customer  to  assume  while  being 
fitted  and  how  to  stand  so  as  to  avoid  unnecessary  strain  of  the 
muscles  of  the  back. 

The  reshaping  of  the  glove  after  fitting  demands  skill. 
A  machine  has  been  invented  for  this  purpose,  but  it  is  not 
used  so  extensively  as  to  eHminate  the  hand  reshaping  of  the 
glove.  This  must  be  so  skillfully  done  that  the  glove  will  not 
show  that  it  has  been  fitted.  Mending  of  gloves  is  important. 
A  sales  person  may  be  trained  to  look  after  mending  as  part  of 
her  work,  or  it  may  be  done  in  a  special  department. 


200  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

The  sales  person  who  sells  jewelry  should  have  a  knowledge 
of  silver,  because  much  jewelry  is  made  of  silver.  She  must 
know  what  is  meant  by  gold-filled,  gold-rolled,  and  gold-front 
jewelry.  She  should  be  able  to  show  interesting  things  about 
different  pieces  of  jewelry,  as,  for  example,  the  desirability  of  a 
chain  composed  of  soldered  Hnks  as  compared  with  one  having 
unsoldered  links.  She  should  have  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
materials  used  in  buckles,  pins,  bracelets,  hair  ornaments, 
fancy  purses,  and  beads.  Jewelry  is  a  part  of  dress  and  so  is 
affected  by  style,  to  which  the  sales  person  should  give  attention. 

E.    A  Job  Analysis  for  Selling' 

VARIABLE   FACTORS  IN  BUSINESS  WORK — SALESMANSHIP  AS 
AN  EXAMPLE 

Inherent  differences  in  qimlifications  of  salespersons. — This 
study  of  salesmanship  in  the  retail  stores  of  Richmond,  has 
indicated  the  whole  range  of  work  required  of  men  and  women 
of  widely  varying  mental  and  physical  endowments,  and 
educational  qualifications.  A  few  examples  cited  from  this 
report  will  but  serve  to  illustrate  this  point.  The  hardware 
salesman  must  possess  mechanical  ability  in  order  to  set  up 
and  adjust  machines  and  implements.  The  dexterous  hands  of 
the  jewelry  salesman  are  not  needed  for  success  in  the  grocery 
store,  nor  is  the  girl  selling  notions  required  to  have  the  keen 
color  discrimination  and  the  artistic  taste  of  the  salesperson  at 
the  silk  counter.  Gk)od  looks  are  of  more  importance  to  the 
girls  at  the  neckwear  counter  than  to  the  one  who  sells  hosiery. 
Artistic  taste  is  not  so  essential  to  the  man  who  sells  leather 
goods  as  to  the  clerk  in  a  florist's  shop. 

Inherent  differences  in  commodities  sold. — Yox  salespersons 
in  book  stores,  a  college  education  is  an  asset;  for  furniture 
salesmen,  a  general  education  rich  in  historical  content  about 
manners  and  customs  of  various  people  and  periods  and  their 
homes  and  furnishings  is  valuable;  and  the  demonstrator  of  a 
compHcated  agricultural  implement  is  greatly  profited  by  a 

^  Adapted  from  Report  of  the  Richmond,  Indiana,  Survey  for  Vocational 
Education,  pp.  388-97.  Bulletin  of  Indiana  State  Board  of  Education, 
Indiana  Survey  Series  No.  3,  1916. 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     20I 

technical  education.  On  the  other  hand,  it  can  scarcely  be 
honestly  contended  that  a  general  education  beyond  the  sixth 
grade  is  needed  for  selling  in  the  five  and  ten  cent  store,  or  that 
an  education  beyond  the  ninth  grade  is  a  marketable  asset  for 
the  grocery  clerk. 

CONSTANT  FACTORS  IN  SALESMANSHIP 

Fundamentals  underlying  study  of  merchandise. — ^While 
actual  differences  in  stock  knowledge  required  of  salespersons 
handling  various  commodities  are  vital  and  oftentimes  great, 
there  are  certain  fundamental  basic  elements  underlying  the 
study  of  merchandise;  knowledge  of  the  industries  of  the 
United  States  and  Europe;  centers  of  production  of  commodities 
of  various  types;  source  and  composition  of  raw  materials  into 
finished  products,  including  study  of  color,  pattern  and  design. 

Economics  of  mercantile  trade. — ^The  content,  of  the  eco- 
nomics of  mercantile  trade  about  which  all  salespersons  should 
be  informed  regardless  of  the  commodity  sold,  includes  the 
following:  The  world's  producing,  buying  and  selling  markets; 
rudiments  about  traffic  and  transportation;  basic  reasons  for 
variations  in  market  prices;  the, relation  between  wholesale 
and  retail  trade;  the  basis  of  fixing  selling  prices;  and  methods 
of  displaying  and  advertising  goods. 

Technique  of  meeting  customers. — The  types  of  customers 
with  whom  salespersons  have  to  deal  are  constant,  regardless 
of  the  purchase  the  customer  seeks  to  make.  The  classification 
reported  in  the  Minneapolis  Survey  is  suggestive:  "The  cus- 
tomer looking  for  a  definite  thing;  the  one  not  knowing  just 
what  to  buy;  the  customer  who  is  just  curious  about  what  is 
for  sale.  The  first  type  of  customer  must  be  convinced  that 
the  salesperson  can  show  either  the  very  object  desired  or  some- 
thing better;  the  second  type  is  open  to  persuasion;  and  the 
third  must  be  attracted  and  won." 

SUGGESTIONS   CONCERNING  TRAINING  FOR   SALESMANSHIP 

Salesmanships  a  splendid  field  for  men. — The  widespread 
public  attention  focused  upon  schejnes  for  training  young 
girls  for  department  store  positions,  has  had  a  tendency  to 


202 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


create  the  impression  in  the  minds  of  young  men  that  the  field 
of  selling  is  of  most  worth  and  promise  to  young  women.  The 
Richmond  Survey  sh6ws  that  men  predominate  in  the  field,  at 
the  ratio  of  three  to  one,  and  that  in  only  two  types  of  stores, 
the  dry  goods  and  five  and  ten  cent  stores,  are  women  in  the 
majority.  Practically  all  positions  of  major  responsibility  in 
the  Richmond  stores  are  held  by  men.  Probably  this  condition 
will  continue  to  exist.  Nor  is  Richmond  peculiar  in  this  respect. 
According  to  the  report  of  1910  census  of  occupations  of  resi- 
dents of  Indiana,  there  were  about  90,000  salespersons  in  the 
State,  70  per  cent  of  whom  were  males.  The  following  census 
figures  about  numbers  employed  in  this  field  in  the  State  are 

illuminative: 

TABLE  XXVI 


Salespersons  in  stores 

Retail  dealers 

Brokers  and  agents 

Commercial  travelers  and  demonstrators 

Total 


Females 

10,647 

1,237 

1,210 

361 

13,455 


Schemes  for  training  for  salesmen  must  be  broad  enough  to 
adequately  throw  open  the  possibilities  of  selling  to  promising 
young  men,  and  teach,  in  so  far  as  possible,  the  basic  aspects  of 
merchandising  necessary  for  entrance, proficiency  and  promotion. 
The  schooW  responsibility. — Classes  in  salesmanship  for 
youths  who  have  not  yet  entered  the  field  as  wage-earners  and 
for  those  who  are  salespersons  but  who  seek  organized  instruc- 
tion, must  be  organized  on  an  entirely  different  basis.  Classes 
for  the  former  must  include  the  fundamental  common  elements 
of  mercantile  salesmanship,  and,  for  the  latter,  the  distinctive 
problem  peculiar  to  commodities  sold  and  store  organization. 
There  is  no  question  but  that  the  public  schools  have  a  direct 
responsibility  in  offering  preparatory  courses  for  those  who  seek 
this  type  of  employment.  Although  this  Survey  has  revealed 
some  of  the  constant  as  well  as  variable  factors  involved,  the 
study  was  neither  broad  nor  intensive  enough  to  submit'  a 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     203 

complete  bill  of  particulars  which  might  be  accepted  without 
challenge.  A  detailed  and  intensive  study  to  determine  the 
solid,  common  ground  underlying  all  sales  work,  should  be 
made  at  once,  since  the  field  is  so  promising  and  public  interest 
is  so  great.  No  texts  are  yet  available  which  touch  the  real 
problem,  since  practically  all  works  on  salesmanship  discuss 
only  such  common  requisites  as  reliability  of  character,  ambi- 
tion, patience  and  tact,  all  of  which  underlie  a  salesman's  success 
no  more  than  that  of  a  doctor,  a  mechanic  or  a  nurse.  A  reliable 
text  cannot  be  written  until  the  intensive  study  suggested  is 
made. 

The  course  of  the  future  for  those  preparing  for  salesmanship. — 
To  understand  the  composition  and  manufacturing  of  stuffs, 
textiles,  silverware,  rugs,  etc.,  a  salesman  must  have  a  knowl- 
edge of  applied  chemistry;  to  appreciate  and  explain  patterns 
in  textiles  and  jewelry,  fashion  of  hats  and  costumes  as  well  as 
to  arrange  displays  on  counters  and  in  windows,  a  salesman  must 
have  training  in  design,  color  and  harmony  of  line  and  space. 
English,  penmanship  and  arithmetic  are  necessary  for  sales 
records,  and  practical  economics. 

A  study  of  applied  economics,  including  mercantile  traffic  '^, 
and  transportation,  is  necessary  in  marking  goods  and  setting 
prices.  Commercial  geography  and  industrial  studies  are 
necessary  in  obtaining  a  knowledge  of  the  world's  producing,  y^ 
buying  and  selling  markets  and  manufacturing  processes.  The 
course  of  the  future  must  contain  at  least  all  these  basic 
elements. 

These  suggestions  constitute  an  hypothesis,  that  there  might 
be  worked  out  for  salesmanship  a  course  in  a  way  analogous  to 
a  general  course  in  pedagogy,  psychology,  sociology,  and  history, 
now  required  of  all  who  enter  the  teacher's  profession.  No 
such  courses  at  present  are  available  for  salesmanship.  The 
vague  and  vaporous  books  on  personality,  conduct  and  advertis- 
ing, which  are  current  in  schools  of  salesmanship  and  corre- 
spondence courses,  at  present  offer  a  mere  starting  point  for  the 
salesmanship  course  of  the  future,  which  will  take  such  geperali- 
ties  for  granted  and  begin  with  specific  studies. 


204  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  The  persons  making  the  Minneapolis  Survey  concluded  that  even 
where  ''ample  technical  knowledge"  existed,  certain  quaUties  were 
often  lacking.  What  were  these  qualities  ?  Does  it  seem  probable 
that  high  skill  in  bookkeeping,  for  example,  could  leave  one 
devoid  of  these  qualities  ? 

2.  How  could  large  employers,  as  in  Des  Moines,  justify  the  belief 
that  office  work  should  not  be  undertaken  by  anyone  who  does 
not  have  a  high-school  education  ? 

3.  From  an  examination  of  the  survey  of  Rochester,  New  York, 
what  conclusions  do  you  reach  on  the  following  matters : 
(a)  specialization  in  office  work,  (b)  the  value  of  general  book- 
keeping courses,  (c)  the  value  of  special  clerical  courses,  such  as 
machine  operation,  (d)  the  value  of  attempting  to  train  in  adver- 
tising and  selling,  (e)  the  weaknesses  and  strength  of  the  high 
school  or  business  college  commercial  curriculum  as  you  are 
familiar  with  it. 

4.  Examine  the  survey  in  Milwaukee  and  make  conclusions  con- 
cerning all  of  the  issues  raised  in  the  preceding  question,  so 
far  as  the  data  are  applicable. 

5.  Follow  the  same  procedure  for  the  evidence  presented  in  the 
Cleveland  survey. 

6.  Follow  the  same  procedure  for  the  evidence  presented  in  the  sur- 
vey of  occupations  in  New  York. 

7.  Would  data  such  as  those  given  in  the  statements  of  Type  i  be 
valuable  for  purposes  of  vocational  guidance  if  presented  to 
Freshmen  in  high-school  commercial  courses  ? 

8.  Does  an  examination  of  the  demands  in  specific  types  of  business 
bear  out  in  general  the  conclusions  which  you  reached  from  the 
study  of  the  surveys  made  in  various  cities  ? 

9.  Do  studies  of  specific  businesses  indicate  a  greater  or  less  use  of 
the  conventional  bookkeeping,  stenography,  and  typewriting 
than  was  found  in  the  city  surveys  ? 

10.  To  what  extent,  if  at  all,  are  your  conclusions  of  what  business 
says  it  wants  modified  by  A,  B,  and  C  of  evidence  of  Type  3  ? 

11.  Under  evidence  of  Type  3,  Section  B  shows  that  36  per  cent  of 
the  reporting  schools  state  that  over  50  per  cent  of  their  com- 
mercial students  find  initial  employment  in  stenography.  The 
Cleveland  survey  indicates  that  only  22  per  cent  of  the  clerical 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     205 

workers  in  Cleveland  are  stenographers.     How  do  you  account  for 
this  difference  ? 

12.  Examine  evidence  of  Type  3,  C  and  D.  Are  the  conclusions 
which  are  there  reached  concerning  the  type  of  work  done  by  com- 
mercial workers  and  the  training  which  they  receive  a  criticism 
of  the  commercial  course  in  high  schools  as  you  know  it  ? 

13.  Does  the  evidence  indicate  that  stenography,  typewriting, 
and  bookkeeping  are  worth  while  as  stepping-stones  and  should, 
therefore,  be  taught?  If  this  is  true,  is  it  Ukely  that  a 
greatly  disproportionate  amount  of  time  is  given  them  in  the 
secondary  schools?  Is  it  conceivable  that  they  might  with 
propriety  be  dropped  entirely  from  the  secondary  schools  ? 

14.  From  your  study  of  the  evidence  of  what  business  wants, 
are  we  justified  in  the  tentative  conclusion  reached  earlier  that 
there  must  be  training  for  specialized  technique  ? 

15.  If  the  quantity  of  typewriting,  stenography,  and  bookkeeping  in 
the  secondary  commercial  courses  were  greatly  reduced,  what 
could  be  substituted  "to  fill  up  the  time  ?" 

16.  Why  has  there  not  been  differentiation  in  the  commercial 
training  given  boys  and  girls?  Does  the  evidence  justify  the 
belief  that  the  demands  are  different  for  the  sexes  ? 

17.  What  explanations  can  be  given  for  the  different  occupations 
in  which  boys  and  girls  take  their  initial  positions?  What 
explanation  can  be  given  for  the  different  occupations  in  which 
boys  and  girls  are  found  after  a  period  of  years  ?  Are  the  reasons 
which  you  give  reasons  which  are  likely  to  continue  to  be  true  ? 

18.  What  do  you  understand  to  be  the  meaning  of  the  term  job 
analysis  ? 

19.  Of  what  value  is  job  analysis  for  one  who  is  interested  in  business 
education  ? 

20.  Was  our  study  of  what  business  is,  part  of  a  job  analysis?  Is 
our  whole  undertaking  to  reach  conclusions  concerning  the  objec- 
tives of  business  education  merely  a  job  analysis  ?  If  so,  a  job 
analysis  of  what  job  ? 

21.  Work  through  the  junior  conomercial-occupations  job  analyses 
made  by  the  Federal  Board.  Concerning  it,  what  would  be  your 
answer  to  these  questions:  (a)  Would  such  an  analysis  be  valuable 
to  boys  and  girls  beginning  the  high-school  commercial  course? 
(b)  What  value  has  it  for  teachers  of  commercial  work?  (c) 
Are  you  led  to  the  belief  that  the  way  to  train  for  commercial 


2o6  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

occupations  is  to  give  courses  in  each  of  these  jobs,  training  in 
each  instance  for  the  particular  requirements  as  the  job  analysis 
indicates  tljem  to  exist  ? 

22.  What  is  wrong  with  conventional  commercial  courses  if  the  con- 
clusions of  the  Junior  Commercial  Survey  are  sound  ? 

23.  Since  stenography,  typewriting,  and  bookkeeping  are  the  courses 
given  high-school  commercial  students,  why  did  the  Federal 
Board  find  it  necessary  to  make  so  many  items  in  their  classifica- 
tion of  positions  ? 

24.  What  is  a  "general  clerk"?  What  training  is  proposed  for  him 
in  the  Board's  report?  Should  the  high  school  train  for  this 
position  ? 

25.  What  is  the  Board's  criticism  of  existmg  bookkeeping  texts? 
Does  the  criticism  seem  justified?  What,  if  anything,  should 
be  substituted  ? 

26.  Attempt  to  work  out  a  brief  outline  of  the  courses  proposed  by 
the  Board  in  Section  E  of  evidence  of  Type  3. 

27.  In  what  ways  do  the  conclusions  on  stenography  agree  and  dis- 
agree with  the  conclusions  of  the  "Junior  Survey"  ? 

28.  On  the  basis  of  the  Board's  report  what  do  you  believe  the 
secondary  school  should  do  regarding  machine-operating  courses  ? 
Regarding  retail-selling  courses  ? 

29.  What  are  the  "supervisory  and  executive  positions"  mentioned 
in  "the  Senior  Survey"  ?  Who  will  obtain  these  positions  ?  Try  to 
put  content  into  the  courses  suggested  for  training  for  these 
positions. 

30.  Does  the  job  analysis  made  in  the  Richmond,  Indiana,  survey 
bear  out  the  conclusions  reached  by  the  Federal  Board  ? 

31.  The  Minneapolis  survey  puts  special  emphasis  upon  job  analysis 
of  retail  selling.  What  were  the  conclusions  reached  as  to  the 
requirements  for  such  work?  Judging  from  the  requirements 
for  retail  selling  as  indicated  by  Sections  D  and  E  of  Evidence  of 
Type  5,  how  much  to  the  point  has  been  the  typical  "course"  in 
salesmanship  ? 

32.  Various  surveys  bring  out  the  fact  that  a  large  number  of  high- 
school  commercial  graduates  find  their  way  into  retail  selling. 
Studies  such  as  the  Minneapolis  and  Richmond  surveys  indicate 
that  the  most  important  training  for  retail  selling  is  a  detailed 
knowledge  of  the  goods  sold.  Since  the  high-school  student  can 
never  be  sure  of  the  type  of  goods  which  he  will  eventually  be 


WHAT  BUSINESS  WANTS:  INDIRECT  EXPRESSIONS     207 

selling,  it  follows,  does  it  not,  that  courses  should  be  given  which 

would  make  commercial  students  intimately  familiar  with  all 

goods? 
7^x.  If  we  do  not  follow  the  suggestion  given  in  the  preceding  question, 

what    shall    we    do    about    this   matter   of    training   for  retail 

salesmanship  ? 
34.  Formulate  a  series  of  statements  which  summarize  the  suggestions 

for  business  education  obtained  from  Chapter  VIII. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY 

All  education  given  by  the  public  schools  must  be  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  best-known  ends  of  public  education.  This 
statement  holds  true  regardless  of  the  course  to  which  it  may 
be  applied.  No  course  of  study  in  the  American  public  school, 
however  vocational  its  character,  can,  if  it  omits  education  of 
the  kind  needed  in  a  democracy,  be  anything  but  a  misappro- 
priation of  public  funds.  In  seeking  the  ends  or  objectives 
of  business,  therefore,  so  far  as  we  are  thinking  in  terms  of 
the  secondary  school,  we  shall  need  to  give  consideration  to 
the  needs  and  purposes  of  all  education  in  a  democracy  such 
as  ours.  In  doing  this,  as  in  the  two  preceding  chapters, 
the  best  method  seems  to  be  to  submit  such  evidence  as  is 
available.  A  consideration  of  the  evidence,  rather  than  a 
consideration  of  an  interpretation,  is  the  useful  procedure. 
There  are,  then,  presented  here  a  series  of  statements,  for  the 
most  part  statements  of  persons  whose  opinion  is  well  recognized 
as  of  value,  regarding  objectives  of  public  education.  It  is 
necessary  to  draw  from  such  evidence  a  conclusion  and  to  com- 
bine that  with  our  conclusions  drawn  from  the  study  of  what 
business  is  and  what  business  says  it  wants,  in  arriving  at  a 
tentative  working  statement  of  the  objectives  of  education  for 
business.^ 

STATEMENT  1.    THE  MEANING  AND  AIM  OF  EDUCATION 

A.    Some  Objectives  of  Public  Education^ 

The  administrative  awakening  to  the  need  of  determining 
with  definiteness  the  goals  of  public  education  is  coming  sur- 

^  Although  the  classic  statement  of  Herbert  Spencer  has  been  omitted 
to  give  place  to  more  modem  views,  chap,  i,  at  least,  of  Education  might 
well  be  read. 

'  Adapted  by  permission  from  Franklin  Bobbitt,  "The  Objectives  of 
Secondary  Education,"  School  Review,  XXVIII,  December,  1920,  738-48. 

208 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY   209 

prisingly  late.  In  the  world  of  economic  production  it  is 
axiomatic  that  nothing  can  be  done  until  it  is  decided  what 
products  are  to  be  turned  out;  but  in  the  field  of  public  educa- 
tion we  have  in  large  measure  been  building  and  organizing  our 
huge  plants  and  operating  them  full  blast  without  "having 
definitely  predetermined  the  kinds  of  products  which  we  are 
going  to  turn  out.  Exceptions,  of  course,  must  be  made  in 
the  case  of  a  few  things,  such  as  the  ability  to  read,  to  write, 
to  spell,  to  compute,  to  read  maps,  to  express  one's  self  in  clear 
and  correct  English,  and  a  few  others.  These  matters  are 
mainly  taken  care  of  upon  the  elementary  level.  The  high 
schools  for  the  most  part  have  not  particularized  their  objec- 
tives in  terms  of  human  activities  or  human  well-being.  The 
situation  is  well  stated  by  Dr.  Snedden: 

The  great  problems  of  secondary  education  today  are,  of  course, 
problems  of  aim.  The  concrete,  immediate  aims  which  control  the 
large  majority  of  our  administrative  and  pedagogic  procedures  in 
the  American  high  school  (and  how  very  concrete  and  definite  and 
exacting  many  of  them  are)  are  of  quite  unknown  value.  We  have 
not  defined  them  in  terms  of  human  good;  v/e  seem  imable  to  esti- 
mate the  value  of  the  results  achieved  in  our  efforts  to  realize  them. 
We  teach  our  prescribed  algebra  strenuously  and  with  some  very 
definite  objectives,  but  we  flounder  pitfully  when  we  try  to  prove 
that  these  objectives  are  really  worth  while.  We  have  refined  and 
standardized  our  immediate  objectives  in  teaching  physics  and 
chemistry,  but  what  we  actually  attain  by  it  all  in  terms  of  hmnan 
well-being  remains  concealed  in  the  obscurity  of  vague  phrase  and 
inadequate  generalization.  We  drive  our  boys  and  girls  hard  up  the 
steeps  of  Latin,  French,  and  German,  but  we  are  forced  to  fall  back 
on  mystical  and  uncertain  faiths  in  the  endeavor  to  justify  our  driv- 
ing of  particular  youths  up  these  particular  steeps. 

We  have  in  reserve,  of  course,  large,  splendid  aims  which  are 
alleged,  finally,  to  guide  the  evolution  and  destinies  of  our  secondary 
schools.  Do  we  not  freely  use  such  terms  as  "character  formation, " 
"mental  discipline,"  "self-realization,"  "social  efficiency,"  "cul- 
tiure,"  "citizenship,"  "leadership,"  "intellectual  power,"  and  a 
score  of  other  unanalyzed  general  phrases,  as  expressive  of  our 
ultimate  goals  ?  And  in  these  are  there  not  siunmed  up  most  of  the 
purposes  that  really  count  in  this  life  ?    It  must  be  admitted  that  we 


2IO  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

do  still  live  largely  in  a  maze  of  faith  (and  fable)  as  regards  education. 
....  For,  after  all,  our  great  fine  aims  in  secondary  education,  ex- 
pressed in  tenuous  even  though  aspiring  phrase,  are  in  reahty  only 
faith  aims;  in  practice  they  rarely  actually  guide  us  in  choice  of  ways 
and  means;  and  we  seldom  stop  to  measure  the  tangible  results  of 
our  teaching  against  the  shadowy  and  ever- varying  interpretations  of 
these  aims  as  set  forth  in  books  and  journal  articles. 

During  the  five  years  since  Dr.  Snedden's  statement 
appeared,  much,  very  much,  has  been  done.  The  National 
Education  Association  Commission  on  the  Reorganization  of 
Secondary  Education  in  its  "Cardinal  Principles  of  Secondary 
Education"  has  presented  seven  groups  of  educational  objec- 
tives. Such  an  official  pronouncement,  even  though  tentative 
and  merely  a  basis  of  further  effort,  is  now  greatly  needed. 
The  present  writer  would  suggest  consideration  of  a  somewhat 
more  inclusive  series,  as  follows: 

1.  Education  for  general  physical  efficiency.  Play-level 
and  work-level. 

2.  Education  for  general  mental  efficiency.  Play-level  and 
work-level. 

3.  Education  for  unspecialized  activities  of  production, 
distribution,  conservation,  and  consumption.  Play-level  and 
work-level. 

4.  Education  for  one's  specialized  calling. 

5.  Education  for  citizenship. 

6.  Education  for  general  social  relationships  and  contacts. 
Play-level  and  work-level. 

7.  Education  for  social  intercommunication.  (Languages 
and  other  modes  of  intercommunication.)  Play-level  and 
work-level. 

8.  Education  for  religious  attitudes  and  activities. 

9.  Education  for  parental  responsibilities. 

B.    Are  There  Educational  Aims?' 

There  is  nothing  peculiar  about  educational  aims.  They 
are  just  like  aims  in  any  directed  occupation.    The  educator, 

» Adapted  by  permission  from  John  Dewey,  Democracy  and  Eduction^ 
pp.  124-26.     Macmillan  Co.,  1916. 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY       211 

like  the  farmer,  has  certain  things  to  do,  certain  resources  with 
which  to  do,  and  certain  obstacles  with  which  to  contend.  The 
conditions  with  which  the  farmer  deals,  whether  as  obstacles  or 
resources,  have  their  own  structure  and  operation  independently 
of  any  purpose  of  his.  Seeds  sprout,  rain  falls,  the  sun  shines, 
insects  devour,  blight  comes,  the  seasons  change.  His  aim  is 
simply  to  utilize  these  various  conditions;  to  make  his  activi- 
ties and  their  energies  work  together,  instead  of  against  one 
another.  It  would  be  absurd  if  the  farmer  set  up  a  purpose  of 
farming,  without  any  reference  to  these  conditions  of  soil, 
climate,  characteristic  of  plant  growth,  etc.  His  purpose  is 
simply  a  foresight  of  the  consequences  of  his  energies  connected 
with  those  of  the  things  about  him,  a  foresight  used  to  direct 
his  movements  from  day  to  day.  Foresight  of  possible  con- 
sequences leads  to  more  careful  and  extensive  observation  of 
the  nature  and  performances  of  the  things  he  has  to  do  with, 
and  to  laying  out  a  plan — that  is,  of  a  certain  order  in  the  acts 
to  be  performed.  And  it  is  well  to  remind  ourselves  that 
education  as  such  has  no  aims.  Only  persons,  parents,  and 
teachers,  etc.,  have  aims,  not  an  abstract  idea  like  education. 
And  consequently  their  purposes  are  indefinitely  varied,  differ- 
ing with  different  children,  changing  as  children  grow  and 
with  the  growth  of  experience  on  the  part  of  the  one  who  teaches. 
Even  the  most  valid  aims  which  can  be  put  in  words  wUl,  as 
words,  do  more  harm  than  good  unless  one  recognizes  that  they 
are  not  aims,  but  rather  suggestions  to  educators  as  to  how  to 
observe,  how  to  look  ahead,  and  how  to  choose  in  liberating 
and  directing  the  energies  of  the  concrete  situations  in  which 
they  find  themselves.  As  a  recent  writer  has  said:  "To  lead 
this  boy  to  read  Scott's  novels  instead  of  old  Sleuth's  stories; 
to  teach  this  girl  to  sew;  to  root  out  the  habit  of  bullying  from 
John's  make  up;  to  prepare  this  class  to  study  medicine, — 
these  are  samples  of  the  millions  of  aims  we  have  actually  before 
us  in  the  concrete  work  of  education." 


212  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

C.    The  Social  Aim  of  Education' 

The  problem  of  education  is,  therefore,  reduced  to  this: 
whether  the  members  of  society  shall  continue  to  pass  through 
life  surrounded  only  by  the  natural  and  unorganized  influences 
which  everywhere  exist,  by  which  they  are  indeed  constantly 
acquiring  knowledge,  such  as  it  is,  and  many  conceptions  which 
are  not  knowledge  because  they  consist  of  erroneous  inferences; 
whether  they  shall  thus  be  left  to  form  all  kinds  of  undigested 
and  unsystematized  ideas,  half  of  which  are  objectively  unreal, 
and  most  of  the  remainder  too  narrow  to  be  of  any  value,  yet 
to  which  their  conduct  will  rigidly  correspond,  producing  its 
legitimate  effect  upon  themselves  and  upon  society;  or, 
whether  they  shaill  be  requked  to  pass  a  portion  of  their  early 
lives  under  a  system  of  artificial  circumstances,  so  regulated 
that  the  bulk  of  the  influences  which  appeal  to  the  senses  and 
produce  ideas  will  be  both  reliable  and  important,  and  from 
which,  under  no  other  than  the  normal  operations  of  the  mind, 
reliable  and  valuable  knowledge  must  necessarily  result,  solid 
character  be  formed,  and  the  highest  ethical  and  dynamic 
actions  be  induced,  exerting  rigidly  corresponding  effects  upon 
themselves  and  upon  society.  It  is,  in  short,  the  question 
whether  the  social  system  shall  always  be  left  to  nature,  always 
be  genetic  and  spontaneous,  and  be  allowed  to  drift  listlessly 
on,  intrusted  to  the  by  no  means  always  progressive  influences 
which  have  developed  it  and  brought  it  to  its  present  condition, 
or  whether  it  shall  be  regarded  as  a  proper  subject  of  art,  treated 
as  other  natural  products  have  been  treated  by  human  intelli- 
gence, and  made  as  much  superior  to  nature,  in  this  only  proper 
sense  of  the  word,  as  other  artificial  productions  are  superior 
to  natural  ones. 

As  the  ultimate  end  which  every  feeling  organism,  every 
individual  man,  and  society  collectively,  both  morally  should 
and  physically  must  directly  or  indirectly  pursue,  is  the  increase 
of  happiness,  so  the  highest  achievement  of  the  developed 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  Lester  F.  Ward,  Dynamic  Sociology,  II, 
632-33,  541.    D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1897. 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY   213 

intellect  and  social  consciousness  of  man  is  the  substitution 
for  the  unsuccessful  or  partially  successful  and  costly  direct 
efforts  to  attain  that  end,  of  a  systematic,  predetermined,  and 
successful  scheme  for  the  organization  of  happiness.  Such  a 
scheme  must  have  for  its  primary  object  the  equal  distribution 
of  the  extant  knowledge  of  the  world. 

D.  Education  as  an  Agency  of  SoaAL  Control^ 
The  art  of  education  like  the  art  of  agriculture  deals  with 
growing  things.  Though  agriculture  has  been  practiced  and 
discussed  for  so  many  ages,  and  enlists  the  imperious  bread- 
and-butter  interests,  yet  it  is  only  now  becoming  scientific. 
We  have  already  observed  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  agrono- 
mists the  yield  of  American  com  lands  could  be  doubled  by  the 
application  of  the  lessons  of  science,  and  that  it  is  equally  within 
the  truth  to  say  that  the  harvest  of  Hfe  for  the  people  of  America 
could  be  doubled  if  the  possibilities  with  which  they  are  endowed 
by  nature  were  brought  to  approximate  realization.  For  this 
it  is  not  enough  to  make  the  benefits  of  present  methods  in 
education  more  nearly  universal,  as  Ward  so  impressively 
advocated,  important  as  that  is.  It  is  essential  to  introduce 
into  our  education  guiding  principles  which  have  been  only 
dimly  apprehended  and  applied.  Heredity  sets  the  limits 
within  which  individual  development  can  vary.  By  all  means 
let  us  do  what  we  can  by  the  program  of  eugenics,  by  selective 
regulation  of  immigration,  and  by  promotion  of  public  health, 
to  improve  the  biological  quality  of  population.  But  after  all 
is  done  we  shall  have  the  problem  of  making  the  most  of  the 
latent  possibility  of  each  rising  generation  just  as  the  farmer 
has  the  problem  of  securing  the  largest  yield  and  highest  con- 
servation of  his  land.  And  as  the  same  land  may  yield  little 
or  much  and  that  which  it  yields  may  be  com,  alfalfa,  or  weeds, 
so  the  same  population  may  yield  Periclean  achievement  and 
levels  of  character  which  we  know  only  by  rare  but  blessed 
instances,  or  futility  and  deviltry. 

» Adapted  by  permission  from  Edward  C.  Hayes,  Introduction  to  the 
Study  of  Sociology,  pp.  66o~6i,  665-66.    D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1915. 


214  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Within  the  limits  set  by  birth,  individuality  is  a  social 
product.  Without  education  by  social  contacts  there  would 
be  no  such  thing  as  individuality  as  we  understand  that  term. 
Social  contacts  begin  to  be  educative  among  the  higher  animals. 
Social  relations  not  only  determine  that  there  shall  be  self- 
consciousness,  but  even  more  certainly  they  determine  what  the 
nature  of  the  self-thought  shall  be.  We  inherit  contrasting 
instincts,  instincts  of  competition  and  of  co-operation,  of  self- 
assertion  and  of  loyal  self-subordination.  Social  contacts  have 
power  to  determine  whether  the  self-thought,  to  which  both 
spontaneously  and  voluntarily  a  man's  acts  conform,  shall 
be  one  of  swaggering  self-assertion,  of  more  refined  self- 
aggrandizement,  or  predominantly  one  of  service.  The  self- 
thought  is  complex;  social  contacts  determine  the  nature  of 
the  elements  which  it  contains.  And  the  future  development  of 
personality  is  largely  a  reaction  between  the  self-thought 
already  established  and  the  subsequent  stream  of  social 
suggestion. 

Education  the  chief  agency  of  social  control. — ^The  direction 
of  ambition  is  socially  determined;  We  want  to  be  winners  at 
the  game  that  is  being  played.  The  small  boy's  springtime 
obsession  for  marbles  is  gone  long  before  fall,  because  "  the  boys 
aren't  playing  marbles  any  more."  The  Indian  who  dreamed 
and  longed  and  risked  his  life  to  hang  scalps  at  his  belt,  or  the 
Filipino  who  measures  his  success  by  the  niunber  of  skulls  over 
his  door,  or  the  Kafir  or  Thibetan  whose  standard  of  greatness 
and  mainspring  of  endeavor  is  the  size  of  his  herd,  or  the  Ameri- 
can toiling  to  make  a  high  score  at  the  dollar-piling  game  and 
to  support  his  wife  in  competitive  ostentation,  have  not  selected 
these  goals  as  an  expression  of  their  own  independent  individual- 
ity. The  operation  of  the  same  principle  of  the  molding  of 
personal  ambition  by  social  radiation  caused  the  Spartans  to 
despise  money.  The  swift  advance  of  Germany  from  the  foot 
to  the  head  of  great  European  powers  has  been  due  largely  to 
the  fact  that  achievement  in  science  has  been  a  goal  of  ambi- 
tion of  her  most  gifted  sons,  so  that  by  her  application  of  science 
to  industry  and  government  she  has  been  able  to  redemonstrate 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY   215 

the  truth  that  knowledge  is  power.  A  traveler  in  Florence  asked 
one  of  the  curly-headed,  great-eyed  urchins  of  its  streets  what 
he  would  like  to  be  when  he  grew  up,  and  the  boy  replied, 
"A  sculptor."  Now,  Florence  has  sculptors,  though  not  all 
of  her  sculptors  are  great.  A  street  boy  in  an  American  city 
would  not  have  answered  so;  he  might  have  said  that  he  wanted 
to  become  pitcher  for  the  White  Sox,  or  boss  of  the  ward.  Jane 
Addams  says  that  in  a  ward  chiefly  inhabited  by  workingmen 
there  was  difficulty  in  replacing  a  corrupt  boss  by  an  honest 
workingman  as  its  aldermanic  representative,  because  the 
people  wanted  to  vote  for  a  man  who  was  a  success.  Where 
the  soubrette,  the  boss,  the  money-maker,  represent  success, 
soubrettes,  bosses  and  money-makers  will  be  produced.  Why 
did  the  Spartan  boy  let  the  fox  gnaw  his  vitals  without  giving 
a  sign,  and  why  did  Spartan  soldiers  commit  suicide  because 
they  had  not  perished  with  their  comrades  on  the  battlefield  ? 
What  was  it  that  made  Spartans  out  of  Greeks  whose  name 
elsewhere  became  a  synonym  for  self-indulgence?  Grit  was 
the  social  ideal  in  Sparta.  Whatever  society  adequately  appre- 
ciates, society  will  get,  up  to  the  very  limits  of  human  possi- 
bility, whether  it  be  prizefighters,  money  kings,  scientists,  or 
constructive  statesmen.  No  other  reform  is  so  fundamental 
as  a  shifting  of  emphasis  in  social  valuations.  Ambition  in  a 
given  population  or  in  a  given  individual  may  be  drawn  out  in 
any  one  of  various  directions.  Its  direction  and  its  power  are 
not  fixed  by  "human  nature,"  but  are  matters  of  education. 

Society  must  impart  to  its  members  tastes,  interests,  ambi- 
tions, and  a  set  of  moral  detestations  and  moral  enthusiasm 
strong  enough  to  inhibit  instincts  and  to  elicit  zeals — detesta- 
tions and  enthusiasms  that  are  not  inborn  and  that  embody 
the  lessons  of  race  experience  respecting  the  conduct  of  life. 
Nature  does  not  give  us  a  conscience  any  more  than  it  gives 
us  a  language,  but  only  the  capacity  to  acquire  one;  social 
evolution,  and  education  must  do  the  rest.  The  task  of  order 
and  progress  is  not  only  to  erect  the  towering  structure  of  social 
organization  out  of  individual  units,  but  also  to  make  the  bricis 
of  which  alone  such  a  structure  can  be  built. 


2i6  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

E.    Education  Should  Guide  Human  Wants' 

The  aims  of  education  should  then  be:  to  make  men  want 
the  right  things,  and  to  make  them  better  able  so  to  control 
all  the  forces  of  nature  and  themselves  that  they  can  satisfy 
these  wants.  We  have  to  make  use  of  nature,  to  co-operate 
with  each  other,  and  to  improve  ourselves. 

The  first  great  element  in  making  human  wants  better  is  to 
increase  the  good  will — the  disposition  to  care  for  others'  wel- 
fare as  well  as  for  one's  own — the  desire  to  see  the  good  wants  of 
others  satisfied.  To  wish  the  welfare  of  all  men  is  one  of  the 
best  of  wants,  for  it  is  a  want  which  every  satisfier  of  all  will 
satisfy. 

The  second  great  means  of  making  human  wants  better  is 
to  cultivate  the  impersonal  pleasures.  Some  satisfactions,  such 
as  the  enjoyment  of  productive  labor,  health,  good  reading  and 
study,  are  impersonal  in  the  sense  that  for  one  to  have  the 
pleasure  does  not  prevent  anybody  else  from  having  it.  They 
are  unlike  the  pleasure  of  eating  or  owning  or  wearing  things, 
where  the  pleasure  of  one  man  usually  uses  up  a  possible  means 
of  satisfying  some  other  man.  One  of  the  most  nearly  perfect 
of  all  impulses  is  the  impulse  to  advance  knowledge  of  ourselves 
and  the  world  in  which  we  are  to  live.  For  this  impulse  is 
impersonal — all  men  may  profit  by  the  truth.  It  enriches 
everybody  else's  possibilities  of  satisfying  the  same  want — 
the  more  knowledge  man  has,  the  easier  it  is  to  get  more.  It 
predisposes  men  against  unsatisfiable  wants — to  know  what  the 
world  really  is  prevents  us  from  wanting  what  it  cannot  give. 
It  leads  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  good  wants — ^knowledge  is 
power. 

The  third  great  means  of  making  human  wants  better  is 
the  elimination  of  wants  which  must  in  the  nature  of  things 
brmg  about  a  surplus  of  dissatisfaction.  Such,  for  instance, 
are  the  wants  represented  by  superstition. 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  Edward  L.  Thoradike,  Psychology, 
pp.  11-13.    Macmillan  Co.,  191 2. 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY        217 

F.    The  View  of  a  Labor  Leaders 

Most  important  among  the  opportunities  that  are  the  rights 
of  children  are  educational  opportunities.  Education  is  vital 
not  only  to  the  welfare  of  the  individual,  but  to  that  of  the  whole 
nation.  It  is  the  only  foundation  and  the  hope  of  ideals  of 
democracy.  It  enables  the  possessor  to  understand  and  to 
measure  his  powers  and  to  use  his  ability  most  effectively 

There  have  come  ideals  of  an  education  that  teaches  out 
of  life  and  work:  that  deals  with  the  concrete  materials  of 
environment  and  the  duties  and  activities  of  life.  This  educa- 
tion seeks  to  put  into  the  lives  of  all  that  understand,  apprecia- 
tion of  the  significance  of  service  performed  in  all  the  relations 
of  life — an  appreciation  that  shall  illuminate  all  of  work  and 
life. 

G.    The  Modern  View  of  Education^* 

The  Meaning  of  Education,  as  conceived  in  the  present,  is 
found  in  this  harmonization  of  interest  and  effort.  This  is  but 
another  attempt  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  individual  and  of 
society,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  has  been  the  educational  prob- 
lem as  it  has  been  the  ethical  problem,  from  the  beginning  of 
human  life.  How  is  the  individual  to  be  educated  so  as  to 
secure  the  full  development  of  personality  and  at  the  same  time 
preserve  the  stability  of  institutional  life  and  assist  in  its  evolu- 
tion to  a  higher  state  ?  It  is  the  old  problem  of  securing  both 
individual  liberty  and  social  justice.  Interest  and  effort 
give  in  modem  form  Aristotle's  problem  of  well-being  and  well- 
doing. Interest,  representing  the  emphasis  or  the  factor  of 
individualism,  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  naturalistic  movement  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  The  education  of  effort  is  the  survival 
in  conservative  circles  of  the  old  education  of  authority  expres- 
sive of  the  religious  and  social  views  prevalent  since  the  Refor- 
mation period.     These  views  have  survived  longest  in  educa- 

'  Adapted  by  permission  from  Samuel  Gompers,  in  American  Federa- 
<»<ww/,  XXIII  (February,  1916),  126. 

'  Adapted  by  permission  from  Paul  Monroe,  Brief  Course  in  the  History 
oj Education,  pp.  405-6.    Macmillan  Co.,  191 1. 


2i8  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

tional  institutions  that  are  controlled  by  religious  denominations 
or  by  certain  dominant  classes  in  society,  as  in  the  English 
public  schools  and  universities. 

The  meanmg  of  education,  as  at  present  conceived,  is  found 
in  the  attempt  to  combine  and  to  balance  these  two  elements  of 
individual  rights  and  social  duties,  or  personal  development  and 
social  service.  The  meaning  of  education  in  the  present  finds 
its  whole  significance  m  this  very  process  of  relating  the  indi- 
vidual to  society,  so  as  to  secure  both  development  of  personality 
and  social  welfare.  It  is  true  that  for  the  last  two  decades  the 
tendency  in  thought,  in  reaction  to  the  extreme  emphasis  on 
interest  and  on  individualism,  has  been  to  stress  the  social 
factor.  Education  has  been  defined  as  preparation  for  citizen- 
ship, as  adjustment  to  society,  as  preparation  for  life  in  institu- 
tions, as  the  acquisition  of  the  racial  inheritance. 

But  definitions  more  acceptable  to  present  thought  seek  to 
combine  both  factors  and  to  find  a  harmonization  of  them  in 

the  nature  of  the  educational  process From  whatever 

line  of  investigation  the  problem  of  education  is  now  approached, 
its  meaning  is  given  in  some  terms  of  this  harmonization  of 
social  and  individual  factors.  It  is  the  process  of  conforming 
the  individual  to  the  given  social  standard  or  type  in  such  a 
manner  that  his  inherent  capacities  are  developed,  his  greatest 
usefulness  and  happiness  obtained,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the 
highest  welfare  of  society  is  conserved. 

STATEMENT  2.    EDUCATION  A  NECESSITY^ 

Society  exists  through  a  process  of  transmission  quite  as 
much  as  biological  life.  This  transmission  occurs  by  means  of 
commimication  of  habits  of  doing,  thinking  and  feeling  from 
the  older  to  the  younger.  Without  this  communication  of 
ideals,  hopes,  expectations,  standards,  opinions,  from  those 
members  of  society  who  are  passing  out  of  a  group  life  to  those 
who  are  coming  into  it,  social  life  could  not  survive.  If  the 
members  who  compose  a  society  lived  on  continuously,  they 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  John  Dewey,  Democracy  and  Education^ 
pp.  i-ii.    Macmillan  Co.,  1916. 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY       219 

might  educate  the  newborn  members,  but  it  would  be  a  task 
directed  by  personal  interest  rather  than  social  need.  Now  it 
is  a  work  of  necessity. 

Individuals  do  not  even  compose  a  social  group  because 
they  all  work  for  a  common  end.  The  parts  of  a  machine  work 
with  a  maximum  of  co-operativeness  for  a  common  result,  but 
they  do  not  form  a  community.  If,  however,  they  were  all 
cognizant  of  the  common  end  and  all  interested  in  it  so  that 
they  regulated  their  specific  activity  in  view  of  it,  then  they 
would  form  a  community.  But  this  would  involve  communica- 
tion. Each  would  have  to  know  what  the  other  was  about  and 
would  have  to  have  some  way  of  keeping  the  other  infoimed 
as  to  his  own  purpose  and  progress.  Consensus  demands 
communication. 

We  are  thus  compelled  to  recognize  that  within  even  the 
most  social  group  there  are  many  relations  which  are  not  as 
yet  social.  A  large  number  of  human  relationships  in  any 
social  group  are  still  upon  the  machine-like  plane.  Individuals 
use  one  another  so  as  to  get  desired  results,  without  reference  to 
the  emotional  and  intellectual  disposition  and  consent  of  those 
used.  Such  uses  express  physical  superiority,  or  superiority  of 
position,  skill,  technical  ability,  and  command  of  tools,  me- 
chanical or  fiscal.  So  far  as  the  relations  of  parent  and  child, 
teacher  and  pupil,  employer  and  employee,  governor  and 
governed,  remain  upon  this  level,  they  form  no  true  social 
group,  no  matter  how  closely  their  respective  activities  touch 
one  another.  Giving  and  taking  of  orders  modifies  action  and 
results,  but  does  not  of  itself  effect  a  sharing  of  purposes,  a 
communication  of  interests. 

The  inequality  of  achievement  between  the  mature  and  the 
immature  not  only  necessitates  teaching  the  young,  but  the 
necessity  of  this  teaching  gives  an  immense  stimulus  to  reducing 
experience  to  that  order  and  form  which  will  render  it  most 
easily  communicable  and  hence  most  usable. 

We  are  thus  led  to  distinguish,  within  the  broad  educational 
process  which  we  have  been  so  far  considering,  a  more  formal 
kind  of  education — that  of  direct  tuition  or  schooling.     In 


220  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

undeveloped  social  groups  we  find  very  little  formal  teach- 
ing and  training.  Savage  groups  mainly  rely  for  instilling 
needed  dispositions  into  the  young  upon  the  same  sort  of 
association  which  keeps  adults  loyal  to  their  group.  They  have 
no  special  devices,  material,  or  institutions  for  teaching  save  in 
connection  with  initiation  ceremonies  by  which  the  youth  are 
inducted  into  full  social  membership.  For  the  most  part,  they 
depend  upon  children  learning  the  customs  of  the  adults,  acquir- 
ing their  emotional  set  and  stock  of  ideas,  by  sharing  in  what 
the  elders  are  doing.  In  part,  this  sharing  is  direct,  taking 
part  in  the  occupations  of  adults  and  thus  serving  an  apprentice- 
ship; in  part,  it  is  indirect,  through  the  dramatic  plays  in  which 
children  reproduce  the  actions  of  grown-ups  and  thus  learn  to 
know  what  they  are  like.  To  savages  it  would  seem  preposter- 
ous to  seek  out  a  place  where  nothing  but  learning  was  going 
on  in  order  that  one  might  learn. 

But  as  civilization  advances,  the  gap  between  the  capacities 
of  the  young  and  the  concerns  of  adults  widens.  Learning  by 
direct  sharing  in  the  pursuits  of  grown-ups  becomes  increasingly 
difficult  except  in  the  case  of  the  less  advanced  occupations. 
Much  of  what  adults  do  is  so  remote  in  space  and  in  meaning 
that  playful  imitation  is  less  and  less  adequate  to  reproduce  its 
spirit.  Ability  to  share  effectively  in  adult  activities  thus 
depends  upon  a  prior  training  given  with  this  end  in  view. 
Intentional  agencies — schools — and  explicit  material — studies — 
are  devised.  The  task  of  teaching  certain  things  is  delegated 
to  a  special  group  of  persons. 

Without  such  formal  education,  it  is  not  possible  to  transmit 
all  the  resources  and  achievements  of  a  complex  society.  It 
also  opens  a  way  to  a  kind  of  experience  which  would  not  be 
accessible  to  the  young,  if  they  were  left  to  pick  up  their  train- 
ing in  informal  association  with  others,  since  books  and  the 
symbols  of  knowledge  are  mastered. 

But  there  are  conspicuous  dangers  attendant  upon  the 
transition  from  indirect  to  formal  education.  Sharing  in  actual 
pursuit,  whether  directly  or  vicariously  in  play,  is  at  least  per- 
sonal and  vital.    These  qualities  compensate,  in  some  measure, 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY   221 

for  the  narrowness  of  available  opportunities.  Formal  instruc- 
tion, on  the  contrary,  easily  becomes  remote  and  dead — abstract 
and  bookish,  to  use  the  ordinary  words  of  depreciation.  What 
accumulated  knowledge  exists  in  low  grade  societies  is  at  least 
put  into  practice;  it  is  transmuted  into  character;  it  exists 
with  the  depth  of  meaning  that  attaches  to  its  coming  within 
urgent  daily  interests. 

But  in  an  advanced  culture  much  which  has  to  be  learned 
is  stored  in  symbols.  It  is  far  from  translation  into  familiar 
acts  and  objects.  Such  material  is  relatively  technical  and 
superficial.  Taking  the  ordinary  standard  of  reality  as  a 
measure,  it  is  artificial.  For  this  measure  is  connection  with 
practical  concerns.  Such  material  exists  in  a  world  by  itself, 
unassimilated  to  ordinary  customs  of  thought  and  expression. 
There  is  the  standing  danger  that  the  material  of  formal  instruc- 
tion will  be  merely  the  subject  matter  of  the  schools,  isolated 
from  the  subject  matter  of  life-experience.  The  permanent 
social  interests  are  likely  to  be  lost  from  view.  Those  which 
have  not  been  carried  over  into  the  structure  of  social  life,  but 
which  remain  largely  matters  of  technical  information  expressed 
in  symbols,  are  made  conspicuous  in  schools.  Thus  we  reach  the 
ordinary  notion  of  education:  the  notion  which  ignores  its 
social  necessity  and  its  identity  with  all  human  association 
that  affects  conscious  life,  and  which  identifies  it  with  imparting 
information  about  remote  matters  and  the  conveying  of  learn- 
ing through  verbal  signs:  the  acquisition  of  literacy. 

Hence  one  of  the  weightiest  problems  with  which  the 
philosophy  of  education  has  to  cope  is  the  method  of  keeping  a 
proper  balance  between  the  informal  and  the  formal,  the  inci- 
dental and  the  intentional,  modes  of  education.  When  the 
acquiring  of  information  and  of  technical  intellectual  skill  do 
not  influence  the  formation  of  a  social  disposition,  ordinar\' 
vital  experience  fails  to  gain  in  meaning,  while  schooling,  in 
so  far,  creates  only  "sharps"  in  learning — that  is,  egoistic 
specialists.  To  avoid  a  split  between  what  men  consciously 
know  because  they  are  aware  of  having  learned  it  by  a  specific 
job  of  learning,  and  what  they  unconsciously  know  because  they 


222  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

have  absorbed  it  in  the  formation  of  their  characters  by  inter- 
course with  others,  becomes  an  increasingly  delicate  task  with 
every  development  of  special  schooling. 

Communication  is  a  process  of  sharing  experience  till  it 
becomes  a  common  possession. 

STATEMENT  3.    THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  CONCEPT  OF 
EDUCATION' 

The  history  of  education  is  the  history  of  mankind.  In  the 
epoch  of  primitive  civilization  the  manner  of  life  was  so  simple 
as  to  preclude  all  idea  of  formal  knowledge.  Necessity  for 
food  and  shelter  taught  the  primitive  man  the  means  and 
method  of  supplying  his  natural  wants.  Repetitions  of  his 
successful  attempts  established  habits  which  became  to  him 
the  ideal  of  life. 

These  ideals  varied  greatly  in  their  content,  with  different 
people  in  different  climes.  The  necessities  of  one  race  were 
superfluities  in  another,  but  in  each  and  all,  certain  essential 
factors  in  the  struggle  for  material  existence  became  the  ele- 
ments of  an  educational  ideal. 

In  order  to  comprehend  the  development  of  education 
among  any  people  it  is  necessary  to  understand  the  process  and 
progress  of  civilization,  for  education  and  civilization  are  insep- 
arably connected. 

That  education  should  fit  the  individual  to  be  a  citizen  has 
been  a  persistent  motive  from  time  immemorial.  No  matter 
how  varying  the  conditions,  or  how  unlike  the  standards  of  life, 
this  element  has  been  common  to  the  educational  ideals  of  all 
countries. 

As  the  State  came  to  be  independent  of  the  Church,  and 
passed  under  the  influence  of  philosophy,  science,  and  sociology, 
the  idea  of  what  constitutes  citizenship  was  constantly  changing 
in  the  minds  of  educators.  So  that  in  later  times  education  has 
come  to  mean  the  fitting  of  an  individual  not  only  to  discharge 
his  duty  to  the  State,  but  also  to  fulfill  his  obligation  to  society. 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  Mabel  Irene  Emerson,  The  Evolution  of 
the  Educational  Ideal,  pp.  1-3,  154-64.    Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  1914.' 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY       223 

With  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  there  came  a 
marvelous  development  in  commerce  and  in  the  industries. 
Great  wealth  has  been  amassed  both  by  nations  and  by  indi- 
viduals, and  a  spirit  of  competition  has  tended  to  emphasize 
the  importance  of  productive  power.  The  spirit  of  the  age  is 
commercialism.  A  citizen,  to  be  of  value  to  the  State,  must  have 
the  power  to  produce  something  of  value  in  the  industrial  world. 
The  impor'.ance  of  a  nation  now  depends  on  its  industrial 
activities,  and  on  the  number  of  its  skilled  individual  producers. 
So  great  is  the  rivalry  among  nations  that  it  has  become  a  matter 
of  necessity  to  modify  the  methods  of  education  in  order  to 
have  a  greater  number  of  productive  citizens.  Consequently 
society  has  demanded  that  some  provision  be  made  in  the  school 
curriculum  for  instruction  along  eminently  practical  lines. 

It  is  now  seen  that  education  for  citizenship  must  iuclude 
something  more  than  mere  culture;  that  while  it  must  not 
exclude  what  is  essential  to  the  proper  development  of  the 
individual,  it  must  also  include  that  which  shall  be  of  direct  and 
immediate  value  to  society. 

Germany  was  one  of  the  first  to  recognize  that  industrial 
development  and  political  advancement  of  nations  depend 
entirely  on  the  kind  of  education  given  to  children.  Hence 
Germany  has,  for  a  long  time,  had  industrial,  trade,  and  tech- 
nical schools.  France  and  England  have  also  responded  to 
the  general  demand.  America,  because  of  her  great  natural 
resources,  has  been  slow  to  realize  the  necessity  of  establishing 
iadustrial  schools. 

For  certain  intellectual  vocations,  such  as  law,  medicine, 
the  ministry,  and  teaching,  professional  schools  have  long 
been  established.  But  the  vast  majority  of  children,  upon 
leaviug  the  elementary  or  secondary  schools,  enter  a  trade  or 
business.  For  this  reason  wise  educators  are  today  attempting 
to  enlarge  the  horizon  of  such  children  by  giving  them  an  uitel- 
lectual  grasp  of  their  chosen  vocation  as  a  whole,  and  a  practical 
experience  of  the  work  in  detail.  It  is  with  the  hope  of  making 
children  something  more  than  automatic  machines  in  a  highly 
specialized  business  that  the  effort  is  being  made  to  fit  them  for 


224  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

positions  that  require  intelligence  as  well  as  manual  skill.  To 
this  end  vocational  and  industrial  schools  are  now  being  estab- 
lished in  which  the  cultural  value  of  education  is  not  neglected, 
but  rather  subordinated  to  the  practical  needs  of  the  child's 
environment.  This  is  bringing  about  a  new  sense  of  values  and 
a  consequent  readjustment  in  the  curricula  of  schools. 

There  are  practically  five  divisions  of  vocational  education: 
professional;  agricultural;  commercial  or  business;  industrial; 
and  household  arts.  Because  of  the  fact  that  industry  has 
become  the  chief  factor  in  determining  conditions  of  living 
and  working  in  the  world,  vocational  education  pertaining  to 
the  industries  is,  at  the  present  time,  receiving  the  greatest 
emphasis. 

Since  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  manual 
training  has  been  taught  in  over  seven  hundred  American  cities. 
But  this  work  has  been  academic  in  character  and  cultural  in  its 
results.  With  the  great  changes  that  have  taken  place  in  the 
world,  America  has  become  essentially  an  industrial  nation. 
Manual  training  has  done  good  work  in  its  place,  but  it  has  not 
been  able  to  produce  that  efl&ciency  which  is  needed  in  the 
industrial  world. 

STATEMENT  4.    A  PRIMARY  CULTURE  FOR 
DEMOCRACY^ 

One  who  looks  even  a  little  beneath  the  surface  of  things 
may  see  that  there  is  no  question  more  timely  than  that  of 
culture,  and  none  which  has  more  need  of  fresh  and  fundamental 
conceptions.  It  is  by  no  means  a  question  merely  of  the  decora- 
tion of  life,  or  of  personal  enjoyment;  it  involves  the  whole 
matter  of  developing  large-minded  members  for  that  strong 
and  good  democracy  which  we  hope  we  are  building  up.  With- 
out such  members  such  a  democracy  can  never  exist,  and  culture 
is  essential  to  the  power  and  efficiency,  as  well  as  to  the  beauty, 
of  the  social  whole. 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  Charles  H.  Cooley,  "A  Primary  Culture 
for  Democracy,"  Publicatiofis  of  the  American  Sociological  Society ^  XIII 
(1918),  1-3,  8-10. 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY       225 

We  may  all  agree,  I  imagine,  that  culture  means  the  develop- 
ment of  the  human  and  social,  as  distinct  from  the  technical, 
side  of  life.  Our  recent  growth,  so  far  at  least  as  it  is  realized 
in  our  institutions,  has  been  mainly  technical,  the  creation  of 
an  abundant  economic  system  and  a  marvelous  body  of  natural 
science,  neither  of  them  achievements  of  a  sort  to  center  atten- 
tion upon  what  is  broadly  human. 

It  is  true  that  along  with  these  has  come  a  growth  of  humane 
sentiment  and  aspiration,  of  a  spirit  Christian  and  democratic 
in  the  largest  sense  of  those  words;  but  this  remains  in  great 
part  vague  and  ineffectual.  To  give  it  clearness  and  power  is 
one  of  the  aims  of  the  culture  we  need. 

There  is  also,  I  am  sure,  a  growing  demand  for  culture. 
In  the  course  of  the  greatest  struggle  of  history,  which  is  also 
a  struggle  for  righteous  ideals,  the  people  everywhere  have 
learned  that  the  social  order  needs  reconstruction,  and  that  the 
popular  will  has  power  to  transform  it,  as  has  actually  been 
seen  in  molding  nations  to  efficiency  in  war.  All  this  gives  rise, 
especially  in  the  young,  to  large  and  radical  thinking,  which 
permeates  the  armies,  the  press,  the  labor  unions,  and  other 
popular  associations;  and  among  the  first  results  of  this  think- 
ing is  a  demand  for  a  new  sort  of  liberal  education,  through 
which  all  members  of  the  coming  order  shall  get  a  wider  out- 
look, a  higher  and  clearer  idealism,  and  so  be  prepared  to  create 
that  free,  righteous,  and  joyful  system  of  Hfe  to  which  they 
aspire. 

Indeed  our  democracy,  in  spite  of  its  supposed  materialism, 
has  long  had  at  heart  the  ideal  of  culture.  Culture  has  been 
a  god  that  we  somewhat  ignorantly  worshiped.  We  are  not 
satisfied  with  beholding  the  multiplication  of  material  things, 
nor  even  with  the  hope  of  greater  justice  in  their  distribution; 
we  want  joy,  beauty,  hope,  higher  thoughts,  a  larger  life,  a 
fuller  participation  in  the  great  human  and  divine  whole  in 
which  we  find  ourselves.  Even  those  popular  movements 
which  formulate  their  aims  in  material  terms  are  not  really 
materialistic  but  get  their  strongest  appeal  from  the  belief 
that  these  aims  are  the  condition  of  a  fuller  spiritual  life. 


226  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Another  reason  for  turning  our  thoughts  to  culture  is  that 
the  economic  outlook  demands  it.  We  are  apparently  entering 
upon  a  period  of  cheap,  standardized  production  upon  an 
enormous  scale,  which  will  multiply  commodities  and  perhaps 
increase  leisure  but  will  make  little  demand  upon  the  intelligence 
of  the  majority  of  producers  and  offer  no  scope  for  mental  disci- 
pline. Work  is  becoming  less  than  ever  competent  to  educate 
the  worker,  and  if  we  are  to  escape  the  torpor,  frivolity,  and 
social  irresponsibility  engendered  by  this  condition,  we  must 
offset  it  by  a  social  and  moral  culture  acquired  in  the  schools 
and  in  the  community  life. 

Our  culture  must  be  a  function  of  our  situation  as  a  whole. 
Just  as  the  arts,  like  literature,  painting,  and  sculpture,  can 
not  be  merely  traditional  but  must  spring  fresh  and  creative 
from  the  living  spirit  of  the  time,  so  also  must  culture,  which 
is  likewise  an  expression  of  the  general  life.  It  may  be  con- 
trasted with,  perhaps  opposed  to,  the  apparent  trend  of  things; 
but  if  so  it  is  only  because  it  is  rooted  in  a  deeper  trend.  If  it 
does  not  function  in  the  whole  it  is  nothing. 

I  am  in  sympathy  with  those  who  cling  to  the  great  human- 
istic traditions  of  the  past.  There  can  be  no  real  culture  that 
is  altogether  new;  it  can  only  be  a  fresh  growth  out  of  old  stems; 
but  it  must  be  that;  it  must  be  new  in  the  sense  that  it  is  wholly 
reanimated  by  the  spirit  of  our  own  time.  Any  attempt  to 
impose  an  old  culture  upon  us  merely  because  the  educated  class 
cherish  it,  or  because  it  can  be  supported  by  general  arguments 
having  no  reference  to  our  actual  needs,  must  fail.  Through 
control  of  institutions  the  classicist,  or  the  scientist,  or  the  reli- 
gionist may  for  a  time  force  the  forms  of  an  old  learning  upon 
a  new  generation;  but  before  long  all  that  does  not  vigorously 
fimction  in  the  life  of  the  day  will  slough  off  and  be  forgotten. 

Certainly  no  culture  can  be  real  for  us  that  is  not  democratic. 
This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  it  must  be  superficial,  or 
commonplace,  or  uniform.  These  are  traits  which  the  enemies 
of  democracy  have  endeavored  to  fix  upon  it,  but  which  do  not 
belong  to  its  essence.  Democracy  is  at  the  bottom  a  more 
himiane,  inclusive,  and  liberal  organization  of  life,  and  cer- 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY       227 

tainly  a  democratic  culture  will  be  one  based  on  large  and  kindly 
conceptions,  meeting  the  needs  of  the  plain  people  as  well  as 
of  the  privileged  classes,  and  worked  out  largely  through  the 
schools  and  other  popular  institutions.  Because  culture  has 
in  the  past  been  inaccessible  to  the  masses  and  still  is  so  in 
great  part,  we  must  make  it  our  very  special  business  to  bring 
it  within  their  reach;  but  the  idea  that  such  a  culture  must 
lack  refinement  and  distinction  has  no  basis  in  sound  theory 
and  will  be  refuted  as  fast  as  we  make  democracy  what  it  can 
and  should  be. 

The  studies,  the  teachers,  the  social  activities  of  the  schools 
and  the  community,  are  all  expressions  of  an  underlying  current 
of  life  which  molds  their  character  for  better  or  worse  and  can 
only  gradually  be  changed.  It  would  be  fatuous  not  to  see 
that  this  current  is  largely  unfavorable  to  the  development  of 
any  real  culture,  either  primary  or  secondary.  The  influence 
in  our  society  which  is  organized  and  dominant  is  commercial- 
ism; the  elements  of  culture  are  for  the  most  part  scattered, 
demobilized,  and  impotent.  The  very  idea  and  spirit  of  it  are 
starved  and  crowded  out. 

If  we  divide  the  sources  of  culture  into  two  parts,  those  that 
derive  from  tradition  and  those  that  come  to  us  more  directly 
from  participation  in  life,  we  shall  find  that  the  former  especially 
are  deficient.  Perhaps  the  first  requisite  of  progress  is  to  face 
the  fact  that  we  are,  as  a  people,  in  a  state  of  semi-barbarism  as 
regards  participation  in  that  heritage  which  comes  only  by 
familiarity  with  literature  and  arts.  And  since  this  is  lacking 
in  the  people  at  large,  including  the  bulk  of  the  educated  classes, 
our  schools,  which  are  nothing  if  not  an  expression  of  the  people, 
do  not  readily  supply  it.  The  wealthy  and  energetic  men  who 
have  general  control  of  education  mean  well,  but  their  whole 
life-history,  in  most  cases,  has  been  such  that  words  like  culture, 
art,  and  hterature  can  be  little  more  to  them  than  empty  sounds, 
and  whatever  provision  they  make  for  them  can  hardly  fail  to 
be  somewhat  perfunctory  and  superficial. 

I  do  not  mean  that  culture  is  irreconcilable  with  commercial 
activities  or  with  technical  training  in  the  schools.    On  the 


228  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

contrary,  periods  of  commercial  expansion  have  usually  been 
those  when  arts  and  literature  flourished  most;  and  technical 
training,  if  moderate  in  its  demands  and  enlarged  by  a  constant 
sense  of  the  social  whole  to  which  it  contributes,  may  itself 
involve  a  most  essential  kind  of  culture.  But  our  commercial- 
ism has  been  exorbitant  and  exclusive;  and  our  technical  train- 
ing is  rarely  of  a  sort  which  makes  the  student  feel  his  member- 
ship in  the  larger  whole.  Both  must  be  transformed  by  a 
social  spirit  and  philosophy  before  they  can  join  hands  with 
culture. 

These  are  the  underlying  reasons  for  the  unsatisfactory 
state  of  our  schools  and  for  the  extreme  difficulty  of  introducing 
any  culture  spirit  into  them.  American  education,  on  the  culture 
side,  is  deadened  by  formalism  from  the  first  grade  in  the  pri- 
maiy  schools  to  and  including  the  graduate  departments  of  our 
universities.  In  spite  of  much  sound  theory  and  honest  effort 
on  the  part  of  teachers  the  stifling  gases  of  commercialism  have 
passed  from  the  general  atmosphere  into  academic  halls  and 
devitalized  almost  everything  having  no  obvious  economic 
purpose.  I  doubt  if  there  has  on  the  whole  been  any  progress 
in  this  way,  perhaps  rather  a  retrogression,  during  my  own  time. 

When  I  contemplate  the  state  of  culture  in  our  colleges  I 
cannot  wonder  that  it  does  not  flourish  in  the  elementary  schools. 
Thus,  to  take  only  one  indication,  I  have  reason  to  think  that 
serious  spontaneous  reading  is  far  less  common  among  uni- 
versity students  than  it  was  forty  years  ago.  This  is  my  own 
observation,  confirmed  by  others  and  corroborated  by  the  evi- 
dence of  a  veteran  bookseller,  who  told  me  that  he  sold  fewer 
books  of  general  literature  to,  say,  5,000  students  at  the  time 
of  our  conservation  than  he  did  to  one-fourth  of  that  number 
in  the  Victorian  era. 

I  find  the  outlook  somewhat  more  cheerful  as  regards  that 
sort  of  culture  which  we  get  as  a  by-product  of  a  co-operation 
with  our  fellows.  This  is  a  plant  which  grows  untended  in  a 
free  and  friendly  life;  and  I  think  that  democracy  is  giving 
our  feelings,  our  manners,  and  our  social  perceptions  an  enlarge- 
ment which  is  truly,  in  its  way,  a  kind  of  culture.    That  con- 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY       229 

sideration,  helpfulness,  and  ready  sociability  which,  it  appears, 
have  endeared  our  soldiers  to  the  villages  of  France  are  a  part 
of  our  civilization  and  may  well  prove  to  be  the  first  fruits  of  a 
new  sort  of  culture.  Let  us  cherish  and  diffuse  this  spirit  in 
every  possible  way,  especially  through  that  school  and  com- 
munity organization  of  which  I  have  spoken.  It  is  not  only  a 
fine  thing  in  itself  but  will  help  us  to  appreciate  and  acquire 
that  transmitted  culture,  akin  to  it  in  essence,  which  we  now 
so  sadly  lack. 

On  the  whole,  our  present  condition  as  regards  a  popular 
culture,  though  unsatisfactory,  is  not  unpromising.  We  have 
energy,  good-will,  and  a  sincere  though  vague  idealism.  We 
may  expect  these  to  work  gradually  upon  all  departments  of 
life,  our  schools,  our  communities,  our  economic  institutions, 
and  the  general  atmosphere  of  the  country,  slowly  bringing  to 
pass  a  culture  which  will  certainly  be  fresh,  democratic,  and 
human,  and  need  not  be  deficient  in  those  things  that  have  to 

be  learned  from  the  past In  the  way  of  culture,  as  in 

technical  training,  our  higher  schools  should  offer  the  best  that 
the  world  has  achieved,  and  should  also  foster  specialized 
culture  groups  to  kindle  and  support  the  individual  in  his  struggle 
for  a  larger  life. 

STATEMENT  5.    EDUCATION  AND  THE  NATIONAL 
IDEAL^ 

Our  nation  has  hardly  yet  passed  out  of  its  early  adolescence. 
Indeed  only  with  the  present  war  has  there  been  any  widespread 
thought  as  to  our  national  destiny  nor  any  clear-cut  attempt  to 

formulate  a  philosophy  of  our  social  life And  yet  we 

have  had  in  this  country  from  the  very  beginning  of  our  history 
some  fairly  clear-cut  ideals,  and  these  have  exerted  a  profound 
influence  on  our  educational  system.  The  ideals  of  liberty, 
equaHty,  justice,  the  separation  of  church  and  state,  and  self- 
government  which,  however  rudimentary,  found  expression  or 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  L.  M.  Bristol,  "Education  and  the 
National  Ideal,"  Publications  of  the  American  Sociological  Society,  XIII 
(1918),  166-76. 


23©  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

are  implicit  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Con- 
stitution, have  been  the  very  foundation  stones  of  our  system 
of  free  public  schools;  indeed  some  of  these  ideals  and  their 
educational  correlate  go  back  to  early  Colonial  days. 

Not  only  have  the  ideals  of  liberty,  equality,  justice,  and 
self-government,  however  uncritically  held,  been  prominent  in 
this  country  from  Colonial  times,  but  since  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  the  formation  of  our  national  government 
there  has  been  a  more  or  less  conscious  widespread  feeling  that 
we  were  working  out  here  an  experiment  in  democracy  which 

would  be  an  example  to  other  nations The  equality 

boasted  of  in  our  Declaration  of  Independence  is  seen  to  be  a 
very  vague  and  shadowy  thing,  for  we  know  all  too  well  now 
that  men  are  not  born  equal  in  physical,  mental,  or  moral 
capacity,  and  that  the  actual  conditions  of  life  are  not  such  as 
to  bring  about  equality  of  opportunity  nor  at  all  times  even 
equality  before  the  Islw.  Indeed  though  our  President  has  said 
we  were  fighting  to  make  the  world  safe  for  democracy,  some 
have  been  led  to  ask  seriously  whether  or  not  democracy  as  it 
actually  exists  in  this  country  is  really  worth  saving.  More- 
over we  are  led  to  raise  the  question  as  to  what  we  mean  by 
democracy  and  find,  upon  reflection,  that  the  democracy  for 
whose  safety  we  olBfered  our  all  is  not  so  much  a  form  of  govern- 
ment as  a  condition  of  social  life. 

Liberty,  equality,  justice!  It  is  for  us  to  make  these  ideals 
factual  in  every  department  of  our  social  life;  a  liberty,  however, 
that  is  consonant  with  social  strength;  an  equality  that  with 
normal  human  beings  means  primarily  equality  of  opportunity 
for  self-development,  self-expression,  self-enlargement  and 
service,  and  a  justice  which  includes  a  recognition  of  indi- 
vidual limitations  and  imperfections,  but  also  of  social  respon- 
sibility and  one  that  is  based  primarily  on  an  estimate  of  the 
long-run  well-being  of  the  social  group  and  of  all  humanity. 
And  then  that  ideal  of  democracy!  This,  too,  nmst  be  trans- 
lated from  the  realm  of  the  abstract  and  ideal  to  the  reality 
of  actual,  intelligent  participation  in  associated  living  and  in 
social  control  whether  through  diffused  public  opinion  or  through 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY       231 

public  opinion  crystallized  in  legislative  enactment.  But  the 
one  comprehensive  national  ideal  to  which  all  others  are  sub- 
ordinate may  well  be  this — and  I  suggest  it  as  the  next  logical 
step  in  the  development  of  our  national  ideal:  to  work  out  here 
in  America  a  form  of  associational  life,  both  as  a  national  whole 
and  in  subordinate  social  groups,  so  manifestly  good  that  it 
shall  challenge  the  admiration  of  other  peoples  to  the  degree 
that  they  shall  desire  to  adapt  our  ideals  and  institutions  to 
their  own  peculiar  conditions  and  needs.  This  ideal,  too,  has 
the  advantage  of  aflFording  an  objective  test  of  the  good  so 
insisted  upon  today  in  science. 

To  make  this  effective  as  a  national  ideal  requires  that  it 
be  the  ideal  in  subordinate  groups.  States  should  consciously 
vie  with  states  in  the  excellence  of  their  system  of  government, 
in  their  treatment  of  the  abnormal  classes,  in  methods  of  taxa- 
tion, and  other  matters  pertaining  to  social  welfare.  Cities 
should  vie  with  cities  in  the  development  of  civic  consciousness, 
in  the  effectiveness  of  municipal  government  in  its  various 
departments  and  activities,  and  in  the  manifest  excellence  of 
its  social  organizations — educational,  fraternal,  philanthropic, 
and  religious.  No  higher  compliment  can  be  paid  to  a  cit)^ 
than  that  some  "plan"  it  has  devised  should  prove  so  effective 
that  it  would  spread  to  other  cities  by  reflective  imitation,  as 
the  Galveston  plan  of  government  by  commission,  or  the  Cleve- 
land plan  of  budget  system  for  united  philanthropies,  or  the 
Gary  system  of  schools. 

The  educational  system  of  the  democracy  that  is  worthy 
of  imitation  must  discover  the  mechanic  and  train  the  mechanic, 
but  its  chief  function  will  be  to  help  the  boy  with  a  mechanical 
bent  to  find  himself  and  his  place  in  the  world  and  give  him 
every  opportunity  to  become  as  efficient  as  possible  not  only  as 
a  mechanic  but  as  a  member  of  society.  So,  too,  it  must  dis- 
cover the  chemist  and  train  the  chemist.  It  must  discover  the 
doctor,  the  lawyer,  the  artist,  the  industrial  organizer,  the 
political  and  the  religious  leader,  and  train  each  for  effective 
participation  in  the  life  of  the  social  group  and  of  humanity, 
each  doing  his  task  supremely  well,  each  inspired  with  a  pur- 


232  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

pose  to  add  something  to  the  sum  total  of  human  achievement, 
each  with  an  enlarged  self-consciousness  so  that  he  thinks  and 
feels  not  only  in  terms  of  the  empirical  self,  but  increasingly 
in  terms  of  family,  community,  church,  industry,  nation, 
humanity. 

Three  subordinate  aims  may  well  be  kept  in  mind,  yet  all, 
as  above  indicated,  are  included  in  that  of  rational  participa- 
tion: the  acquirement  of  useful  knowledge  and  moral  judg- 
ment, or  critical  assimilation,  the  development  of  power  and 
initiative,  or  cultivation,  and  the  motivation  of  a  life-purpose 
with  a  social  outlook,  or  inspiration.  Each  is  to  "enter  into 
the  spiritual  possessions  of  the  race,"  according  to  President 
Butler,  but  chiefly  to  the  degree  necessary  for  effective  participa- 
tion in  the  life  of  the  group.  Each  is  to  acquire  power  over 
self,  over  nature,  and  over  his  fellow-man,  not,  however,  for 
narrow  personal  ends,  but  for  largeness  of  life  and  social  service. 
And  to  hold  our  youth  steady  in  the  task  of  splendid  achieve- 
ment there  is  needed  the  motive  of  a  great  purpose.  All  too 
much  of  our  school  work  today  is  a  deadening  routine  and  a 
spiritless  grind.  The  teacher  who  can  inspire  his  pupils  with 
a  purpose  to  be  in  order  to  do  and  to  toil  in  order  to  serve  is 
rare  indeed.  But  never  did  life  offer  such  a  challenge  to  red- 
blooded  youth  as  today.  The  call  for  the  heroic  will  by  no 
means  end  with  the  signing  of  the  treaty  of  peace.  The  work  of 
reorganizing  American  democracy  and  reconstructing  the  war- 
cursed  regions  of  Europe  furnishes  the  basis  for  an  all-compelling 
appeal  to  the  idealism  and  enthusiasm  of  youth  which  no 
educator  can  afford  to  overlook. 

STATEMENT  6.    THE  POSSIBLE  CREATIVE  EXPERIENCE 
IN  MODERN  INDUSTRY' 

As  I  have  said  before  there  is  a  conamon  supposition  among 
people  who  are  not  employers  of  labor,  that  such  features  of 
industry  as  the  mechanical  devices  of  modem  technology  and 
the  division  of  labor  in  factory  organization,  are  in  their  nature 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  Helen  Marot,  Creative  Impulse  in 
Industry,  pp.  134-45.    E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co.,  1918. 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY   233 

opposed  to  the  expansive  development  of  the  people  involved; 
that  these  features  of  apparent  intrinsic  importance  to  mass 
production  are  antagonistic  to  individual  growth  and  to  the 
interest  of  workers  in  productive  effort. 

Without  question,  it  is  the  business  of  educators  to  determine 
whether  such  features  of  industry  as  machinery  and  the  division 
of  labor  are  fundamentally  opposed  to  growth  or  whether  they 
are  opposed  only  in  the  way  in  which  they  have  been  put  to 
use  and  directed.  We  can  discover  whether  or  not  these 
features  are  opposed  only  as  the  people  concerned  have  the 
chance  to  master  them  and  undertake,  through  their  experience, 
to  turn  them  to  account. 

Because  industry  has  been  impersonalized  and  the  me- 
chanics of  associated  effort  in  industry  worked  out  in  such  large 
measure,  it  is  today  possible  to  conceive  of  spiritual  as  well  as 
physical  association  in  productive  enterprise.  A  difficulty  in 
the  way  of  this  conception,  aside  from  the  business  complex, 
is  our  habit  of  thinking  exclusively  of  creative  effort  as  an 
individual  expression.  In  describing  the  individual  expression 
we  would  say  that  a  man  may  create  a  machine  but  that  when 
men  jointly  produce  one  they  work.  The  creative  act  is  in  the 
conception  of  the  machine  in  conjunction  with  its  construction, 
and  the  conception,  after  our  habit  of  thinking,  is  an  individual 
and  isolated  achievement.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  frequently  is, 
A  man  may  create  a  machine  if  he  conceives  it  and  constructs 
it  or  if  he  conceives  and  directs  its  construction.  Those  he 
directs,  those  who  do  the  work  of  construction  alone,  do  not 
participate  in  the  creative  act,  as  the  creative  act  is  the  con- 
centrated intellectual  and  emotional  expression  and  effort  to 
produce  an  article  or  idea.  The  creative  impulse  is  concerned 
with  the  transforming  of  a  concept  or  some  material  into  an 
expanded  concept  or  a  new  object.  The  creative  impulse  itself 
finds  its  satisfaction  in  the  process  of  completion  and  loses  its 
force  when  the  concept  or  object  is  produced.  The  use  of  the 
concept  or  object  created  is  not  a  characteristic  of  the  creative 
but  of  the  social  impulse.  A  man  who  is  interested  in  the  use 
or  application  of  a  product,  the  value  it  has  for  others,  possesses 


234  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

the  social  impulse  as  well  as  the  creative.  One  impulse  is 
intensive  and  the  other  extensive. 

But  the  creative  effort  is  not  necessarily  an  individual 
matter.  It  may  be  possible  for  a  group  of  people  to  associate 
cordially  and  freely  together  with  a  single  creative  purpose  and 
endeavor.  It  may  be  possible  for  each  worker  to  experience 
the  joy  of  creative  work  as  he  takes  part  with  others  in  the 
planning  of  the  work  along  with  the  labor  of  fabrication.  It  is 
a  creative  experience  or  dull  labor  as  his  association  with  others 
in  the  solution  of  the  problem  is  freely  pursued  and  genuine, 
or  as  it  is  forced  and  perfunctory. 

Industry  offers  opportunities  for  creative  experience  which 
is  social  in  its  processes  as  well  as  in  its  destination.  The 
imaginative  end  of  production  does  not  terminate  with  the 
possession  of  an  article;  it  does  not  center  in  the  product  or 
in  the  skill  of  this  or  that  man,  but  in  the  development  of 
coromerce  and  technological  processes  and  the  evolution  of 
world  acquaintanceship  and  understanding.  Modem  machin- 
ery, the  division  of  labor,  the  banking  system,  methods  of  com- 
munication, make  possible  real  association.  But  they  are  real 
and  possible  only  as  the  processes  are  open  for  the  common 
participation,  understanding  and  judgment  of  those  engaged  in 
industrial  enterprise;  they  are  real  and  possible  as  the  animus  of 
industry  changes  from  exploitation  to  a  common  and  associated 
desire  to  create:  they  are  real  and  possible  as  the  individual  char- 
acter of  industry  gives  way  before  the  evolution  of  social  effort. 

While  our  institutional  life  is  an  acknowledgment  that 
interdependence  is  a  necessary  factor  in  modem  wealth  produc- 
tion, we  still  measure  the  strength  of  a  man,  or  a  society,  or  a 
nation,  and  say  of  aU  that  they  are  strong  or  weak  as  they  are 
able  apparently  to  stand  alone.  We  have  not  yet  discovered 
that  a  desire  to  stand  alone  in  an  enterprise  where  people  are 
of  necessity  dependent  is  a  weakness  and  that  our  ability  to 
co-operate  with  others  in  such  an  enterprise  is  a  measure  of 
our  strength.  "From  a  social  standpoint  dependence  denotes 
a  power  rather  than  a  weakness;  it  involves  interdependence. 
There  is  always  danger  that  increased  personal  independence 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY       235 

will  decrease  the  social  capacity  of  an  individual.  In  making 
him  more  self-reliant,  it  makes  him  more  self-sufl&cient;  it  may 
lead  to  aloofness  and  indifference.  It  often  makes  an  indi- 
vidual so  insensitive  in  his  relation  to  others  as  to  develop  an 
illusion  of  being  really  able  to  stand  and  act  alone,  an  unnamed 
form  of  inanity  which  is  responsible  for  a  large  part  of  the 
remediable  suffering  of  the  world."  As  industry  through  the 
ages  has  changed  from  the  isolated  business  of  provisioning 
a  family  to  the  associated  work  of  provisioning  the  world,  it 
blazed  a  pathway  for  relationships  which  are  socially  creative. 
But  art  in  social  relationships  will  not  be  realized  until  a  pas- 
sionate desire  for  the  unlimited  expression  of  creative  effort 
overcomes  inordinate  desires  of  individuals  for  self-expression. 
Art  in  living  together  is  possible  where  the  intensive  interest 
of  individuals  in  their  personal  affairs  and  attainments,  in  their 
social  group,  in  their  vocation,  in  their  political  state,  is  deeply 
tempered  by  a  wide  interest  and  sympathetic  regard  for  the 
life  of  other  groups  and  people.  Art  in  social  relationships  is 
contingent  as  well  on  ability  to  work  for  social  ends  while 
remaining  in  large  measure  disregardful  of  the  personal  stakes 
mvolved.  Because  of  our  inability  to  lose  our  personal  attach- 
ment for  our  own  work,  because  of  what  it  may  yield  us  in 
personal  ways,  the  world  never  yet  has  experienced  the  joy  and 
creative  possibility  of  associated  effort.  And  because  it  has 
not  we  have  still  to  experience  art  in  social  contact. 

STATEMENT  7.    PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  ASPECTS  OF 
VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION^ 

The  rapid  extension  of  public  education  to  include  the  so- 
called  "vocational"  interests  and  activities  raises  important 
problems  concerning  the  social  aspect  of  such  education.  These 
problems  are  well  illustrated  by  commercial  education. 

There  are  two  independent  and  often  contradictory  con- 
ceptions of  commercial  education.  We  may  call  one  the  private 
view,  and  the  other  the  public  view. 

^Adapted  by  permission  from  Benjamin  C.  Gruenberg,  "Commercial 
Education,"  School  and  Society,  XII  (1920),  300-330. 


236  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

The  former  of  these  is  much  the  older;  it  had  a  vogue  long 
before  any  of  the  public  schools  attempted  to  supply  commercial 
education.  The  fundamental  postulates  of  this  view,  those 
that  differentiate  it  from  the  public  view,  are  as  follows: 

1.  As  to  society,  life  is  a  competitive  struggle  for  individual 
advantage;  success  is  for  the  few  who  attain  the  advantage. 

2.  As  to  commerce,  business  is  carried  on  for  profits;  success 
is  measured  by  the  amount  of  profit. 

3.  As  to  education,  training  prepares  for  success,  and  it  is 
therefore  worth  getting,  even  at  a  temporary  sacrifice. 

4.  As  to  the  individual,  he  who  is  prepared,  wins;  he  who 
is  not,  loses. 

Under  this  view  the  private  dispenser  of  education  may 
offer  to  train  for  success,  by  inculcating  habits,  technique, 
information,  power,  and  so  on — all  values  that  give  advantage 
(over  those  who  have  not  these  habits,  powers,  etc.)  and  thus 
lead  to  success. 

The  fundamental  postulates  of  the  public  view  of  commercial 
education  may  be  stated  as  follows: 

1.  As  to  society,  life  is  an  organized  enterprise  to  overcome 
obstacles  to  human  welfare,  and  to  promote  the  common  advan- 
tage wherever  possible. 

2.  As  to  commerce,  business  is  service  organized  for  the 
more  effective  and  more  economical  distribution  of  goods  and 
services  over  an  ever  enlarging  area  of  the  earth,  and  of 
human  interest. 

3.  As  to  education,  training  prepares  for  better  service, 
and  so  for  more  satisfactory  living. 

4.  As  to  the  individual,  those  who  are  prepared  serve  better, 
in  proportion  to  their  preparation  (native  differences  being 
beyond  control  and  accepted  without  prejudices). 

Under  this  view  the  public  school  may  offer  to  train  only  for 
types  of  service  that  are  recognized  as  of  public  or  general  use,  by 
inculcating  habits,  technique,  information,  power  and  ideals  that 
make  for  proficiency,  adaptability  and  satisfaction  in  service. 

Educators  generally  accept  the  situation  (economic, 
political,  social)  in  which  they  find  themselves,  and  assume 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY       237 

responsibility  only  for  the  elaboration  of  technique  that  will 
most  effectively  accomplish  the  task  assigned  to  them  by  others. 
Or  they  undertake  to  "rationalize"  what  they  find — perhaps 
to  justify  themselves  in  evading  more  serious  responsibility. 
It  is  proper  to  inquire,  however,  whether  educators,  as  "servants 
of  the  public,"  have  not  a  still  greater  responsibility  in  the 
direction  of  discovering  and  formulating  forms  and  purposes  of 
education,  even  at  the  risk  of  coming  in  conflict  with  traditional 
school  purposes. 

For  example,  we  have  accepted  the  competitive  relation- 
ship for  the  most  part  without  question.  We  have  organized 
and  conducted  our  schools  on  the  assumption  that  this  relation- 
ship is  basic,  essential  and  permanent.  We  have  not  only 
directed  our  "training"  of  children  toward  competitive  ends, 
we  have  both  justified  further  education  because  of  its  ability 
to  make  every  child  excel  every  other  child  {vide  vast  literature 
of  the  last  two  decades  purporting  to  evaluate  higher,  and 
especially  commercial,  education  in  terms  of  dollars  and  cents 
and  in  terms  of  relative  "success"),  and  we  have  conducted  our 
pedagogy  upon  a  competitive  psychology. 

The  weKare  of  the  individual,  no  less  than  the  welfare  of 
the  community,  requires  that  significant  superiorities  be  culti- 
vated and  that  irremediable  inferiorities  be  disregarded.  It 
means  that  in  the  case  of  Socrates,  for  example,  his  inferiority 
as  a  sculptor  or  merchant  shall  not  stand  in  the  way  of  exploit- 
ing his  superiority  as  a  propounder  of  impertinent  and  embar- 
rassing questions. 

To  have  the  schools  turn  out  the  kind  of  boys  and  girls  that 
the  business  man  wants  means  not  only  training  for  the  kind  of 
workmanship  that  business  experience  shows  to  be  needed  or 
desirable,  but  it  means  further  the  inculcation  of  certain 
attitudes  toward  property  and  government,  of  certain  theories 
concerning  relations  between  employers  and  workers,  a  certain 
scheme  of  values — in  short,  it  means  indoctrinating  the  rising 
generation  with  a  whole  philosophy  of  a  special  class. 

The  community  is  interested  in  having  each  individual 
trained  for  his  optimum  productiveness,  in  terms  of  socially 


238  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

desirable  values.  It  is  not  interested  either  in  encouraging 
its  least  scrupulous  or  in  handicapping  its  least  businesslike 
children. 

So  long  as  our  commercial  education  remains  in  private 
control  we  can  at  most  undertake  to  regulate  the  "morals"  or 
"standards"  of  the  instruction.  But  the  moment  the  public 
itself  takes  a  hand  in  commercial  education,  it  becomes  incimi- 
bent  upon  the  agents  of  the  public — commissioners,  instructors, 
educators,  professors — to  justify  their  work  in  terms  of  social 
service. 

STATEMENT  8.    THE  DEMOCRATIC  CONCEPT  AND 
VOCATIONAL  ASPECTS  OF  EDUCATION^ 

The  implications  of  human  association. — Society  is  one  word, 
but  many  things.  Men  associate  together  in  all  kinds  of  ways 
and  for  all  kinds  of  purposes.  One  man  is  concerned  in  a 
multitude  of  diverse  groups,  in  which  his  associates  may  be 
quite  different.  It  often  seems  as  if  they  had  nothing  in  com- 
mon except  that  they  are  modes  of  associated  life.  Within 
every  larger  social  organization  there  are  numerous  minor 
groups :  not  only  political  subdivisions,  but  industrial,  scientific, 
religious,  associations.  There  are  political  parties  with  differ- 
ing aims,  social  sets,  cliques,  gangs,  corporations,  partnerships, 
groups  bound  closely  together  by  ties  of  blood,  and  so  in  endless 
variety. 

Hence,  once  more,  the  need  of  a  measure  for  the  worth  of 
any  given  mode  of  social  life.  In  seeking  this  measure,  we  have 
to  avoid  two  extremes.  We  cannot  set  up,  out  of  our  heads, 
something  we  regard  as  an  ideal  society.  We  must  base  our 
conception  upon  societies  which  actually  exist,  in  order  to  have 
any  assurance  that  our  ideal  is  a  practicable  one.  But  the 
ideal  cannot  simply  repeat  the  traits  which  are  actually  found. 
The  problem  is  to  extract  the  desirable  traits  of  forms  of  com- 
munity life  which  actually  exist,  and  employ  them  to  criticize 
undesirable  features  and  suggest  improvement.     Now  in  any 

'  Adapted  by  permission  from  John  Dewey,  Democracy  and  Educatiotit 
pp.  94-101,  358-70.    Macmillan  Co.,  1916. 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY       239 

social  group  whatever,  even  in  a  gang  of  thieves,  we  find  a 
certain  amount  of  interaction  and  co-operative  intercourse  with 
other  groups.  From  these  two  traits  we  derive  our  standard. 
How  numerous  and  varied  are  the  interests  which  are  consciously- 
shared,  how  full  and  free  is  the  interplay  with  other  forms 
of  association?  If  we  apply  these  considerations  to,  say,  a 
criminal  band,  we  find  that  the  ties  which  consciously  hold  the 
members  together  are  few  in  number,  reducible  almost  to  a 
common  interest  in  plunder;  and  that  they  are  of  such  a  nature 
as  to  isolate  the  group  from  other  groups  with  respect  to  give 
and  take  of  the  values  of  life.  Hence,  the  education  such  a 
society  gives  is  partial  and  distorted.  If  we  take,  on  the  other 
hand,  family  Ufe,  we  find  that  there  are  material,  intellectual, 
aesthetic  interests  m  which  all  participate  and  that  the  progress 
of  one  member  has  worth  for  the  experience  of  all  other 
members — it  is  readily  communicable — and  that  the  family  is 
not  an  isolated  whole,  but  enters  intimately  into  relationships 
with  business  groups,  with  schools,  with  all  the  agencies  of 
culture,  as  well  as  with  other  similar  groups,  and  that  it  plays 
a  due  part  in  the  political  organization  and  in  return  receives 
support  from  it.  In  short,  there  are  many  interests  consciously 
communicated  and  shared;  and  there  are  varied  and  free  points 
of  contact  with  other  modes  of  association. 

The  democratic  ideal. — The  two  elements  in  our  criterion 
both  point  to  democracy.  The  first  signifies  not  only  more 
numerous  and  more  varied  points  of  shared  common  interest, 
but  greater  reliance  upon  the  recognition  of  mutual  interests 
as  a  factor  in  social  control.  The  second  means  not  only  freer 
interaction  between  social  groups  (once  isolated  so  far  as  inten- 
tion could  keep  up  a  separation)  but  change  in  social  habits — 
its  continuous  readjustment  through  meeting  the  new  situations 
produced  by  varied  intercourse.  And  these  two  traits  are 
precisely  what  characterize  the  democratically  constituted 
society. 

Upon  the  educational  side,  we  note  first  that  the  realiza- 
tion of  a  form  of  social  life  in  which  interests  are  mutually  inter- 
penetrating, and  where  progress,  or  readjustment,  is  an  impor- 


240  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

tant  consideration,  makes  a  democratic  community  more 
interested  than  other  communities  have  cause  to  be  in  deliber- 
ate and  systematic  education.  The  devotion  of  democracy 
to  education  is  a  familiar  fact.  The  superficial  explanation  is 
that  a  government  resting  upon  popular  suffrage  cannot  be 
successful  unless  those  who  elect  and  who  obey  their  governors 
are  educated.  Since  a  democratic  society  repudiates  the  prin- 
ciple of  external  authority,  it  must  find  a  substitute  in  voluntary 
disposition  and  interest;  these  can  be  created  only  by  education. 
But  there  is  a  deeper  explanation.  A  democracy  is  more  than 
a  form  of  government;  it  is  primarily  a  mode  of  associated 
living,  of  conjoint  communicated  experience.  The  extension 
of  space  of  the  number  of  individuals  who  participate  in  an 
interest  so  that  each  has  to  refer  his  own  action  to  that  of  others, 
and  to  consider  the  action  of  others  to  give  point  and  direction 
to  his  own,  is  equivalent  to  the  breaking  down  of  those  barriers 
of  class,  race,  and  national  territory  which  kept  men  from 
perceiving  the  full  import  of  their  activity. 

The  meaning  of  vocation. — ^At  the  present  time  the  conflict 
of  philosophic  theories  focuses  in  discussion  of  the  proper  place 
and  function  of  vocational  factors  in  education.  The  bald 
statement  that  significant  differences  in  fundamental  philo- 
sophical conceptions  find  their  chief  issue  in  connection  with 
this  point  may  arouse  incredulity:  there  seems  to  be  too  great  a 
gap  between  the  remote  and  general  terms  in  which  philosophic 
ideas  are  formulated  and  the  practical  and  concrete  details  of 
vocational  education.  But  a  mental  review  of  the  intellectual 
presuppositions  underlying  the  oppositions  in  education  of 
labor  and  leisure,  theory  and  practice,  body  and  mind,  mental 
states  and  the  world,  will  show  that  they  culminate  in  the 
antithesis  of  vocational  and  cultural  education.  Traditionally, 
liberal  culture  has  been  linked  to  the  notions  of  leisure,  purely 
contemplative  knowledge  and  a  spiritual  activity  not  involving 
the  active  use  of  bodily  organs.  Culture  has  also  tended, 
latterly,  to  be  associated  with  a  purely  private  refinement,  a 
cultivation  of  certain  states  and  attitudes  of  consciousness, 
separate  from  either  social  direction  or  service.    It  has  been  an 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY   241 

escape  from  the  former,  and  a  solace  for  the  necessity  of  the 
latter. 

So  deeply  entangled  are  these  philosophic  dualisms  with  the 
whole  subject  of  vocational  education,  that  it  is  necessar}^  to 
define  the  meaning  of  vocation  with  some  fullness  in  order  to 
avoid  the  impression  that  an  education  which  centers  about  it 
is  narrowly  practical,  if  not  merely  pecuniary.  A  vocation 
means  nothing  but  such  a  direction  of  life  activities  as  renders 
them  perceptibly  significant  to  a  person,  because  of  the  con- 
sequences they  accomplish,  and  also  useful  to  his  associates. 
The  opposite  of  a  career  is  neither  leisure  nor  culture,  but  aim- 
lessness,  capriciousness,  the  absence  of  cumulative  achieve- 
ment in  experience,  on  the  personal  side,  and  idle  displa}-, 
parasitic  dependence  upon  the  others,  on  the  social  side.  Occu- 
pation is  a  concrete  term  for  continuity.  It  includes  the 
development  of  artistic  capacity  of  any  kind,  of  special  scientific 
ability,  of  effective  citizenship,  as  well  as  professional  and 
business  occupations,  to  say  nothing  of  mechanical  labor  or 
engagement  in  gainful  pursuits. 

We  must  avoid  not  only  limitation  of  conception  of  vocation 
to  the  occupations  where  immediately  tangible  commodities 
are  produced,  but  also  the  notion  that  vocations  are  distributed 
in  an  exclusive  way,  one  and  only  one  to  each  person.  Such 
restricted  specialism  is  impossible;  nothing  could  be  more 
absurd  than  to  try  to  educate  individuals  with  an  eye  to  only 
one  line  of  activity.  In  the  first  place,  each  individual  has  of 
necessity  a  variety  of  callings,  in  each  of  which  he  should  be 
intelligently  effective;  and  in  the  second  place  any  one  occupa- 
tion loses  its  meaning  and  becomes  a  routine  keeping  busy  at 
something  in  the  degree  in  which  it  is  isolated  from  other 
interests. 

The  place  of  vocational  aims  in  education. — Bearing  in  mind 
the  varied  and  connected  content  of  the  vocation,  and  the 
broad  background  upon  which  a  particular  calling  is  projected, 
we  shall  now  consider  education  for  the  more  distinctive  activity 
of  an  individual.  An  occupation  is  the  only  thing  which 
balances  the  distinctive  capacity  of  an   individual  with  his 


242  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

social  service.  To  find  out  what  one  is  fitted  to  do  and  to  secure 
an  opportunity  to  do  it  is  the  key  to  happiness.  Nothmg  is 
more  tragic  than  failure  to  discover  one's  true  business  in  life, 
or  to  find  that  one  has  drifted  or  been  forced  by  circumstance 
into  an  uncongenial  calling.  A  right  occupation  means  simply 
that  the  aptitudes  of  a  person  are  in  adequate  play,  working 
with  the  minimum  of  friction  and  the  maximum  of  satisfaction. 
With  reference  to  other  members  of  a  community,  this  adequacy 
of  action  signifies,  of  course,  that  they  are  getting  the  best 
service  the  person  can  render. 

The  dominant  vocation  of  all  human  beings  at  all  times  is 
living— intellectual  and  moral  growth.  In  childhood  and  youth, 
with  their  relative  freedom  from  economic  stress,  this  fact  is 
naked  and  unconcealed.  To  predetermine  some  future  occupa- 
tion for  which  education  is  to  be  a  strict  preparation  is  to  injure 
the  possibilities  of  present  development  and  thereby  to  reduce 
the  adequacy  of  preparation  for  a  future  right  employment.  To 
repeat  the  principle  we  have  had  occasion  to  appeal  to  so  often 
such  training  may  develop  a  machine-like  skill  in  routine  lines 
(it  is  far  from  being  sure  to  do  so,  since  it  may  develop  distaste, 
aversion,  and  carelessness),  but  it  will  be  at  the  expense  of 
those  qualities  of  alert  observation  and  coherent  and  ingenious 
planning  which  make  an  occupation  intellectually  rewarding. 
Moreover,  the  discovery  of  capacity  and  aptitude  will  be  a 
constant  process  as  long  as  growth  continues.  It  is  a  conven- 
tional and  arbitrary  view  which  assumes  that  discovery  of  the 
work  to  be  chosen  for  adult  life  is  made  once  for  all  at  some 
particular  date.  One  has  discovered  in  himself,  say,  an  inter- 
est, intellectual  and  social,  in  the  things  which  have  to  do  with 
engineering  and  has  decided  to  make  that  his  calling.  At  most, 
this  only  blocks  out  in  outline  the  field  in  which  further  growth 
is  to  be  directed.  It  is  a  sort  of  rough  sketch  map  for  use  in 
direction  of  further  activities.  It  is  the  discovery  of  a  pro- 
fession in  the  sense  in  which  Columbus  discovered  America 
when  he  touched  its  shores.  Future  explorations  of  an  indefi- 
nitely more  detailed  and  extensive  sort  remain  to  be  made. 
When  educators  conceive  vocational  guidance  as  something 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY        243 

which  leads  up  to  a  definitive,  irretrievable,  and  complete 
choice,  both  education  and  the  chosen  vocation  are  likely  to  be 
rigid,  hampering  further  growth.  In  so  far,  the  calling  chosen 
will  be  such  as  to  leave  the  person  concerned  in  a  permanently 
subordinate  position,  executing  the  intelligence  of  others  who 
have  a  calling  which  permits  more  flexible  play  and  readjust- 
ment. And  while  ordinary  usages  of  language  may  not  justify 
terming  a  flexible  attitude  of  readjustment  a  choice  of  a  new 
and  further  calling,  it  is  such  in  effect.  If  even  adults  have  to 
be  on  the  lookout  to  see  that  their  calling  does  not  shut  down  on 
them  and  fossilize  them,  educators  must  certainly  be  careful 
that  the  vocational  preparation  of  youth  is  such  as  to  engage 
them  in  a  continuous  reorganization  of  aims  and  methods. 

Present  opportunities  and  dangers. — In  the  past,  education 
has  been  much  more  vocational  in  fact  than  in  name.  The 
education  of  the  masses  was  distinctly  utilitarian.  It  was 
called  apprenticeship  rather  than  education  or  else  just  learn- 
ing from  experience.  The  schools  devoted  themselves  to  the 
three  R's  in  the  degree  in  which  ability  to  go  through  the  forms 
of  reading,  writuig,  and  figuring  were  common  elements  in  all 
kinds  of  labor.  Taking  part  in  some  special  line  of  work,  under 
the  direction  of  others,  was  the  out-of-school  phase  of  this 
education.  The  two  supplemented  each  other;  the  school 
work  in  its  narrow  and  formal  character  was  as  much  a  part  of 
apprenticeship  to  a  calling  as  that  explicitly  so  termed. 

To  a  considerable  extent,  the  education  of  the  dominant 
classes  was  essentially  vocational — it  only  happened  that  their 
pursuits  of  ruling  and  of  enjoying  were  not  called  professions. 
For  only  those  things  were  named  vocations  or  employments 
which  involved  manual  labor,  laboring  for  a  reward  in  keep,  or 
its  commuted  money  equivalent,  or  the  rendering  of  personal 
services  to  specific  persons.  For  a  long  time,  for  example,  the 
profession  of  the  surgeon  and  physician  ranked  almost  with  that 
of  the  valet  or  barber — ^partly  because  it  had  so  much  to  do 
with  the  body,  and  partly  because  it  involved  rendering  direct 
service  for  pay  to  some  definite  person.  But  if  we  go  behind 
words,    the   business   of   directing   social   concerns,    whether 


244  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

politically  or  economically,  whether  in  war  or  peace,  is  as  much 
a  calling  as  anything  else;  and  where  education  has  not  been 
completely  under  the  thumb  of  tradition,  higher  schools  in  the 
past  have  been  upon  the  whole  calculated  to  give  preparation 
for  this  business.  Moreover,  display,  the  adornment  of  person, 
the  kinds  of  social  companionship  and  entertainment  which 
give  prestige,  and  the  spending  of  money,  have  been  made 
into  definite  callings.  Unconsciously  to  themselves  the  higher 
institutions  of  learning  have  been  made  to  contribute  to  prep- 
aration for  these  employments.  Even  at  present,  what  is 
called  higher  education  is  for  a  certain  class  (much  smaller  than 
it  once  was)  mainly  preparation  for  engaging  effectively  in 
these  pursuits.  In  other,  respects,  it  is  largely,  especially  in 
the  most  advanced  work,  training  for  the  calling  of  teaching 
and  special  research.  There  are,  however,  obvious  causes  for 
the  present  conscious  emphasis  upon  vocational  education — 
for  the  disposition  to  make  explicit  and  deliberate  vocational 
implications  previously  tacit.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  an 
increased  esteem,  in  democratic  communities,  of  whatever  has 
to  do  with  manual  labor,  commercial  occupations,  and  the 
rendering  of  tangible  services  to  society.  In  theory,  men  and 
women  are  now  expected  to  do  something  in  return  for  their 
support — intellectual  and  economic — ^by  society.  Labor  is. 
extolled;  service  is  a  much-lauded  moral  ideal.  While  there  is 
still  much  admiration  and  envy  of  those  who  can  pursue  lives  of 
idle  conspicuous  display,  better  moral  sentiment  condemns  such 
lives.  Social  responsibility  for  the  use  of  time  and  personal 
capacity  is  more  generally  recognized  than  it  used  to  be. 

In  the  second  place,  those  vocations  which  are  specifically 
industrial  have  gained  tremendously  in  inheritance  in  the  last 
century  and  a  half.  Manufacturing  and  commerce  are  no 
longer  domestic  and  local,  and  consequently  more  or  less  inci- 
dental, but  are  world-wide.  They  engage  the  best  energies  of 
an  increasingly  large  number  of  persons.  The  manufacturer, 
banker,  and  captain  of  industry  have  practically  displaced  a 
hereditary  landed  gentry  as  the  immediate  directors  of  social 
affairs.    The  problem  of  social  readjustment  is  openly  industrial, 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY       245 

having  to  do  with  the  relations  of  capital  and  labor.  The  great 
increase  in  the  social  importance  of  conspicuous  industrial  pro- 
cesses has  inevitably  brought  to  the  front  questions  having  to 
do  with  the  relationship  of  schooling  to  industrial  life.  No 
such  vast  social  readjustment  could  occur  without  offering  a 
challenge  to  an  education  inherited  from  different  social  condi- 
tions, and  without  putting  up  to  education  new  problems. 

In  the  third  place,  there  is  the  fact  already  repeatedly- 
mentioned:  Industry  has  ceased  to  be  essentially  an  empirical, 
rule-of-thumb  procedure,  handed  down  by  custom.  Its  tech- 
nique is  now  technological;  that  is  to  say,  based  upon  machinery' 
resulting  from  discoveries  in  mathematics,  physics,  chemistry, 
bacteriology,  etc.  The  economic  revolution  has  stimulated 
science  by  setting  problems  for  solution,  by  producing  greater 
intellectual  respect  for  mechanical  appliances.  An  industry 
received  back  payment  from  science  with  compound  interest. 
As  a  consequence,  industrial  occupations  have  infinitely  greater 
intellectual  content  and  infinitely  larger  cultural  possibilities 
than  they  used  to  possess.  The  demand  for  such  education 
as  will  acquaint  workers  with  the  scientific  and  social  bases 
and  bearings  of  their  pursuits  becomes  imperative,  since  those 
who  are  without  it  inevitably  sink  to  the  role  of  appendages  to 
the  machines  they  operate.  Under  the  old  regime  all  workers 
in  a  craft  were  approximately  equal  in  their  knowledge  and  out- 
look. Personal  knowledge  and  ingenuity  were  developed  within 
at  least  a  narrow  range,  because  work  was  done  with  tools  under 
the  direct  command  of  the  worker.  Now  the  operator  has  to 
adjust  himself  to  his  machine,  instead  of  his  tool  to  his  own 
purposes.  While  the  intellectual  possibilities  of  industrj'  have 
multiplied,  industrial  conditions  tend  to  make  industry,  for 
great  masses,  less  of  an  educative  resource  than  it  was  in  the 
days  of  hand  production  for  local  markets.  The  burden  of 
realizing  the  intellectual  possibilities  inhering  in  work  is  thus 
thrown  back  on  the  school. 

In  the  fourth  place,  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  has  become, 
in  science,  more  experimental,  less  dependent  upon  literary 
tradition,  and  less  associated  with  dialectical  methods  of  reason- 


246  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

ing,  and  with  symbols.  As  a  result,  the  subject  matter  of  indus- 
trial occupation  presents  not  only  more  of  the  content  of  science 
than  it  used  to,  but  greater  opportunity  for  familiarity  with  the 
method  by  which  knowledge,  is  made.  The  ordinary  worker  in 
the  factory  is  of  course  under  too  immediate  economic  pressure 
to  have  a  chance  to  produce  a  knowledge  like  that  of  the  worker 
in  the  laboratory.  But  in  schools,  association  with  machines 
and  industrial  processes  may  be  had  under  conditions  where 
the  chief  conscious  concern  of  the  students  is  in  sight.  The 
separation  of  shop  and  laboratory,  where  these  conditions  are 
fulfilled,  is  largely  conventional,  the  laboratory  having  the 
advantage  of  permitting  the  following  up  of  any  intellectual 
interest  a  problem  may  suggest;  the  shop  with  advantage  of 
emphasizing  the  social  bearings  of  the  scientific  principle,  as 
well  as,  with  many  pupils,  of  stimulating  a  livelier  interest. 

Finally,  the  advances  which  have  been  made  in  the  psychol- 
ogy of  learning  in  general  and  of  childhood  in  particular  fall 
into  line  with  the  increased  importance  of  industry  in  life.  For 
modem  psychology  emphasizes  the  radical  importance  of  primi- 
tive unlearned  instincts  of  exploring,  experimentation,  and 
"trying  on."  It  reveals  that  learning  is  not  the  work  of  some- 
thing ready-made  called  mind,  but  that  mind  itself  is  an  organ- 
ization of  original  capacities  into  activities  having  significance. 

Both  practically  and  philosophically,  the  key  to  the  present 
educational  situation  lies  in  a  gradual  reconstruction  of  school 
materials  and  methods  so  as  to  utilize  various  forms  of  occupa- 
tion typifying  social  callings,  and  to  bring  out  their  intellectual 
and  moral  content.  This  reconstruction  must  relegate  purely 
literary  methods — including  textbooks — and  dialectical  methods 
to  the  position  of  necessary  auxiliary  tools  in  the  intelligent 
development  of  consecutive  and  cumulative  activities.  But 
our  discussion  has  emphasized  the  fact  that  this  educational 
reorganization  cannot  be  accomplished  by  merely  trying  to  give 
a  technical  preparation  for  industries  and  professions  as  they 
now  operate,  much  less  by  merely  reproducing  existing  indus- 
trial conditions  in  the  school.  Put  in  concrete  terms,  there  is 
danger  that  vocational  education  will  be  interpreted  in  theory 


FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY   247 

and  practice  as  trade  education:  as  a  means  of  securing  tech- 
nical efficiency  in  specialized  future  pursuits. 

Education  would  then  become  an  instrument  of  perpetuat- 
ing unchanged  the  existing  industrial  order  of  society,  instead 
of  operating  as  a  means  of  its  transformation.  The  desired 
transformation  is  not  difficult  to  define  in  a  formal  way.  It 
signifies  a  society  in  which  every  person  shall  be  occupied  in 
something  which  makes  the  lives  of  others  better  worth  living, 
and  which  accordingly  makes  the  ties  which  bind  persons 
together  more  perceptible — which  breaks  down  the  barriers  of 
distance  between  them.  It  denotes  a  state  of  affairs  in  which 
the  interest  of  each  in  his  work  is  uncoerced  and  intelligent: 
based  upon  its  congeniality  to  his  own  aptitudes.  It  goes 
without  saying  that  we  are  far  from  such  a  social  state;  in  a 
literal  and  quantitative  sense,  we  may  never  arrive  at  it.  But 
in  principle,  the  quality  of  social  changes  already  accomplished 
lies  in  this  direction.  There  are  more  ample  resources  for  its 
achievement  now  than  ever  there  have  been  before.  No 
insuperable  obstacles,  given  the  intelligent  will  for  its  realization, 
stand  in  the  way. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  How  may  we  justify  a  study  of  the  purposes  of  public  education 
in  general  when  our  chief  interest  is  the  purposes  of  business 
education?  Could  it  be  justified  if  our  effort  was  to  discover 
the  purposes  of  the  private  commercial  school  alone  ? 

2.  "The  aims  of  education  should  then  be  to  make  men  want  the 
right  things."  How  shall  we  determine  what  the  right  things 
are  ?    What  does  Thomdike  think  are  the  right  things  ? 

3.  "The  purpose  of  education  for  business  is  to  provide  the  largest 
possible  mmiber  of  human  beings  with  that  genuine  culture 
which  will  enable  them  to  understand  the  meaning  of  progress 
and  their  contribution  to  it."     Comment. 

4.  "That  democracy  alone  will  be  triumphant  which  has  both 
intelligence  and  character."  Could  intelligence  mean  different 
things  at  different  times  ?    Could  character  ? 

5.  If  approximately  only  12  per  cent  of  high-school  students  gradu- 
ate, what  is  the  duty  of  the  secondary  school  in  the  matter  of 
educating  for  citizenship  ? 


248  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

6.  "A  society  marked  off  into  classes  need  be  specially  attentive 
only  to  the  education  of  its  ruling  elements."  Why?  Who  are 
the  ruling  elements  of  our  society  if  we  are  a  democracy  ? 

7.  "Society  exists  through  a  process  of  transmission  quite  as  much 
as  biological  life.  This  transmission  occurs  by  means  of  com- 
munication of-  habits  of  doing,  thinking  and  feeling  from  the 
older  to  the  younger."  What  does  this  mean  regarding  educa- 
tion as  a  social  task  ? 

8.  "As  civilization  advances,  learning  by  direct  sharing  in  the 
policies  of  the  grown-ups  becomes  increasingly  difficult."  What 
do  we  do  as  a  result  ? 

9.  "To  savages  it  would  seem  preposterous  to  seek  out  a  place 
where  nothing  but  learning  was  going  on  in  order  that  one  might 
learn."  How  do  they  do  it?  How  was  it  done  in  the  Middle 
Ages?  Make  a  h'st  of  the  devices  we  use.  What  does  this 
point  of  view  indicate  as  to  the  origin  of  schools  ?  What  as  to 
the  responsibiUty  of  the  teaching  profession?  As  to  develop- 
ment of  new  type  of  schools  as  American  academies,  business 
colleges,  commercial  courses,  and  corporation  schools  ? 

10.  "There  is  the  standing  danger  that  the  material  of  formal  instruc- 
tion will  be  merely  the  subject  matter  of  the  schools,  isolated 
from  the  subject  matter  of  life-experience.  The  permanent 
social  interests  are  likely  to  be  lost  from  view."  Can  you  suggest 
any  subjects  of  which  you  think  this  is  true?  What  are  some 
of  these  permanent  social  interests  ?  Why  should  school  matter 
thus  become  isolated  ? 

11.  "If  even  adults  have  to  be  on  the  outlook  to  see  that  their 
calling  does  not  shut  down  on  them  and  fossilize  them,  educators 
must  certainly  be  careful  that  the  vocational  preparation  of 
youth  is  such  as  to  engage  them  in  a  continuous  reorganization 
of  aims  and  methods."  Is  this  statement  pertinent  to  business 
educators?  Does  it  suggest  anything  as  to  how  this  volume 
should  end  ?  If  we  conclude  with  the  definite  statement  of  the 
one  best  commercial  course,  are  we  consistent  with  or  opposed  to 
philosophy  ? 

12.  "The  larger  number  of  human  relationships  in  any  social  group 
are  still  upon  the  machine-like  plan.  Individuals  use  one  another 
so  as  to  get  desired  results  without  reference  to  the  emotional 
and  intellectual  disposition  and  consent  of  this  use."  Give 
examples.  What  are  some  of  the  diflSculties  which  stand  in  the 
way  of  organizing  a  society  in  which  all  interested  are  shared  ? 


^     FUNCTIONS  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  DEMOCRACY   249 

13.  "We  might  as  well  try  to  imagine  a  business  man  doing  business, 
buying  and  selling,  all  by  himself,  as  to  conceive  it  possible  to 
define  the  activities  of  an  individual  in  terms  of  his  isolated 
actions."  Is  our  high-school  commercial  curriculum  planned 
carefully  to  relate  the  individual  to  his  social  environment? 
Can  we  teach  business  ethics  without  an  understanding  of  this 
environment  ? 

14.  "For  this  reason  wise  educators  are  today  attempting  to  enlarge 
the  horizon  of  children  by  giving  them  an  intellectual  grasp  of 
their  chosen  vocation  as  a  whole."  For  what  reason  do  you 
suppose  ?  What  tj^es  of  courses  would  seem  to  you  necessary 
to  give  this  grasp  ? 

15.  "It  is  today  possible  to  conserve  the  spiritual  as  well  as  the 
physical  association  in  productive  enterprise."  What  do  you 
understand  this  to  mean  ?  Is  it  more  difiicult  today  than  it  was 
when  society  was  simpler?  Can  there  be  spiritual  association 
in  an  army  corps  ?  What  are  some  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  this  association  in  the  present  order  of  society?  Is  such 
association  desirable  ? 

16.  The  author  of  Statement  6  used  the  phrase  "art  in  social  relation- 
ships." What  do  you  understand  this  phrase  to  mean?  Can 
there  be  art  in  business  relationships? 

17.  What  are  the  conceptions  of  commercial  education  expressed 
in  Statement  7?    Are  the  two  compatible? 

18.  Suppose  that  you  believed  these  two  things  to  be  true:  (a) 
Modem  business  is  a  very  effective  way  of  producing  economic 
goods,  (b)  There  are  many  features  of  modern  business  which 
are  unsatisfactory.  As  a  person  responsible  for  business  educa- 
tion what  do  you  think  should  be  done  about  it  ? 

19.  "In  many  cases — too  many  cases — the  activity  of  the  immature 
being  is  simply  played  upon  to  secure  habits  which  are  useful. 
He  is  trained  like  an  animal  rather  than  educated  like  a  hmnan 
being."  Explain.  Do  we  ever  do  this  ?  If  so,  give  instances. 
How  can  we  avoid  it?  Is  the  typical  high-school  business 
course  as  you  know  it  a  course  which  favors  the  few  or  the 
many? 

20.  A  Chicago  manufacturer  declares  that  "the  thing  the  school 
must  do  is  to  train  people  who  can  work  well  at  such  jobs  as 
business  men  have  to  offer  and  who  are  not  too  proud  or  too 
ambitious  to  work  in  minor  positions."  What  agreement  or 
disagreement  have  you  with  this  ? 


250  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

21.  "It  is  the  office  of  the  school  to  balance  the  various  elements  in 
the  social  environment,  and  to  see  to  it  that  each  individual 
gets  an  opportunity  to  escape  from  the  hmitations  of  the  social 
group  in  which  he  was  born."    Explain. 

22.  "Traditionally,  Hberal  culture  has  been  hnked  to  the  notions  of 
leisure,  and  a  spiritual  activity  not  involving  the  use  of  bodily 
organs."    Does  this  inspire  you  as  an  educational  aim? 

23.  "More  fundamental  is  the  fact  that  the  great  majority  of  workers 
have  no  insight  into  the  social  aims  of  their  pursuits,  and  no 
direct  personal  interest  in  them.  The  results  actually  achieved 
are  not  the  ends  of  their  actions,  but  only  of  their  employers. 
It  is  this  fact  that  makes  the  action  illiberal."  With  this  as  a 
basis,  suggest  a  few  of  the  liberal  subjects  in  the  high-school 
commercial  curriculum — a  few  of  the  illiberal  ones. 

24.  What  is  culture?  What  is  liberal  education?  What  should 
education  in  a  democracy  undertake  to  (Jo? 


PART  III 

MODERN  AGENCIES  OF  EDUCATION  FOR 
BUSINESS 

A.    The  Outstanding  Institutions 
Chapters  X-XV 

B.     Modern  Extensions  of  the  High-School  Commercial  Course 
Chapters  XVI-XX 


CHAPTER  X 

SOME   EARLIER   FORMS   OF  BUSINESS   EDUCA- 
TION AND   THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF 
SPECIALIZED  AGENCIES 

In  the  preceding  section  we  have  attempted  to  determine  at 
least  tentatively,  what  the  function  of  business  education  is. 
We  are  now  ready  to  examine  those  agencies  or  institutions 
which  co-operate  in  performing  this  function.  In  an  age  as 
changing  as  ours  no  complete  survey  of  such  agencies  can  be 
made.  New  divisions  spring  up  with  such  frequency  that  their 
coming  is  unnoticed,  and  their  growth  is  often  undiscovered 
until  they  become  of  consequence. 

This  chapter  undertakes  to  give  something  of  the  story  of  the 
development  of  education  for  business.  Development  is,  per- 
haps, the  wrong  word,  since  the  chapter  does  not  attempt  to 
follow  a  wholly  logical  procedure.  We  are  interested  in  seeing 
that  education  for  business  has  always  existed  in  some  form  or 
other.  We  are  interested  in  seeing  that,  while  the  form  is  simple 
and  unorganized  under  elementary  conditions,  it  has  changed 
with  the  changing  order  of  society  into  a  highly  differentiated 
and  highly  organized  scheme.  We  shall  not  attempt  to  trace 
each  step  of  the  change,  but  rather  to  look  at  education  for  the 
business  of  living  in  a  simple  society;  then  to  examine  more 
closely  the  well-organized  plan  which  existed  at  the  time  when 
Anglo-American  business  may  be  thought  of  as  beginning; 
then  to  shift  our  view  to  modem  business  education  in  America 
as  it  responded  to  a  changing  economic  system. 

If  we  look,  then,  at  education  in  a  primitive  group,  we  will 
find  that  its  aims  can  be  conceived  as  not  dissimilar  from  those 
which  occupy  us  in  the  present  time.  The  methods  and  devices 
for  accomplishing  these  ends  were,  however,  very  different.' 

*  This  statement  is  adapted  by  permission  from  Arthur  James  Todd, 
The  Primitive  Family  as  an  Educational  Agency.  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons, 
New  York,  1913,  pp.  147-48  and  pp.  178-80. 

253 


254  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

The  curriculum  of  savage  education  includes  two  general  groups 
of  "subjects,"  vocational  and  moral,  the  latter  including  custom, 
tradition,  and  religion.  Yet  in  practice  the  two  groups  are  constantly 
associated.  Tradition  or  taboo  may  rigidly  prescribe  the  technique 
of  industry,  and  religion  constantly  breaks  over  into  the  economic 
regime,  not  only  to  determine  the  forms  of  industry,  but  even  to 
proscribe  and  interrupt  their  normal  course  of  operation;  as,  for 
example,  where  mortuary  customs  require  the  destruction  of  property 
or  suspension  of  labor  or  the  lying  fallow  of  land.  Among  the  lowest 
nature-peoples,  where  the  range  of  ideas  is  narrowest,  the  arts  few 
and  simple,  social  organization  the  loosest,  the  curriculum  reduces 
to  its  lowest  terms.  Yet  even  here  learning  is  not  an  easy  process; 
for  under  such  conditions  each  generation  must  go  back  to  the  begin- 
ning, as  there  is  no  storing  up  of  capital  or  tools  or  even  of  methods. 
On  the  contrary,  the  practice  of  destro3dng  the  propert>'  of  the  dead 
left  to  the  survivors  the  difficult  task  of  creating  above  their  means  of 
production.  Only  with  the  rise  of  intelUgence,  the  settlement  in  a 
more  or  less  permanent  abode,  the  accumulation  of  property,  the 
division  of  labor,  the  formation  and  transmission  of  tradition,  and 
the  organization  of  conscious  education,  could  there  be  any  short 
cut,  any  recapitulation  in  brief  of  racial  experience.  This  stage  once 
reached,  the  "course  of  studies"  becomes  immediate^  more  varied 
and  more  precise.  The  development  of  trade  and  poUtical  organiza- 
tion, together  with  the  increasing  complexity  of  social  and  religious 
concepts,  brings  a  corresponding  extension  and  depth  to  the  content 
of  education.  Ordeals,  drill,  initiatory  rites,  instruction  in  tribal 
traditions,  reUgious  beliefs,  laws,  and  customs,  begin  to  occupy  the 
larger  part  of  the  curriculum,  which  still  includes  occasional  definite 
lessons  in  the  tribal  arts  of  self -maintenance.  But,  far  from  being 
deHvered  en  bloc  by  some  primitive  educational  expert,  their  whole 
system  of  instruction  was  developed  out  of  the  very  heart  of  savagery 
itself  by  the  slow  zigzag  method  of  trial  and  failure  in  the  struggle 
for  existence. 

It  remains  only  to  mention  briefly  a  few  other  elements  in  the 
savage  course  of  study.  Language  required  considerable  attention. 
Games,  mimetic  plays,  and  dancing  had  vast  significance  both  as 
subject  and  method.  Certain  tribes,  notably  the  Iroquois,  gave 
particular  attention  to  training  for  political  life.  The  Cherokees  had 
a  regular  school  for  magicians.  Nature  lore  is  handed  down  through 
legends  and  traditions  both  gay  and  sober  by  the  Indians  of  the  South- 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SPECIALIZED  AGENCIES       255 

west.  Especially  the  rabbit,  coyote,  bear,  antelope,  mouse,  rattle- 
snake, magpie,  woodpecker,  eagle,  horned  toad  and  their  kindred 
form  the  heroes  of  these  tales.  Such  prunitive  "nature  study"  was 
of  course  closely  connected  with  totemism  in  some  form  or  other, 
but  at  the  same  time  furnished  a  real  literature  of  wit,  wisdom,  and 
morals.  The  art  of  story-telling  was  often  highly  cultivated.  Some 
Indian  tribes  had  special  raconteurs,  who  regaled  their  little  audiences 
around  the  family  hearth  or  in  the  men's  house.  Among  the  Yukis 
there  were  men  who  dressed  and  acted  like  women,  and  "devoted 
themselves  to  the  instruction  of  the  young  by  the  narration  of  legends 
and  moral  tales.  The  Chippeways  had  regidar  bards.  With  the 
Pueblos  the  old, men  are  the  story-tellers  and  cast  their  tales  in  a  sort 
of  blank  verse.  Similar  story-telling  by  shamans  and  elders  exists 
in  the  Andaman  Islands.  It  is  unnecessary  to  go  into  emmierative 
details,  for  the  fiction  habit  is  imiversal,  and  scarce  a  tribe  but  has  its 
Homer  or  its  Celtic  Bard.  With  us  fiction  is  light  weight  in  matter 
and  function;  but  not  so  in  savagery;  there  it  not  only  serves  to 
while  the  passing  hour,  but  also  becomes  a  tremendously  effective 
pedagogic  aid. 

"In  the  long  winter  evenings,  while  the  fire  burns  brightly  in  the 
centre  of  the  lodge,  and  the  men  are  gathered  in  to  smoke,  he  (the 
boy)  hears  the  folklore  and  legends  of  his  people  from  the  lips  of  the 
older  men.  He  learns  to  sing  the  love  songs  and  the  war  songs  of 
the  generations  gone  by.  There  is  no  new  path  for  him  to  tread, 
but  he  follows  in  the  old  ways.     He  becomes  a  Dakota  of  the  Dakota." 

EDUCATION  IN  MEDIEVAL  ENGLAND 

If,  without  giving  any  attention  to  the  educational  scheme 
of  the  ancients,  we  let  our  minds  leap  to  the  dawning  of  modem 
enterprise,  we  find  in  the  apprenticeship  system  of  medieval 
England  a  thoroughly  organized  educational  system  with  well- 
recognized  aims  and  carefully  worked-out  methods.  It  is 
worth  our  while  to  make  a  rather  careful  examination  of  that 
system,  partly  because  medieval  apprenticeship  has  been  often 
misimderstood;  partly  because  it  depicts  an  economic  organiza- 
tion whose  differences  from  and  similarities  to  our  present  society 
provide  valuable  study;  partly  because  it  gives  us  a  picture  of 
an  educational  scheme  which  can  be  usefully  examined  in  com- 
parison with  our  own. 


2S6  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

We  have  done  medieval  apprenticeship  an  injustice  in  con- 
ceiving it  to  be  primarily  a  training  in  technical  skill.  Medieval 
apprenticeship  attempted  technical  training  in  craft  skill,  but 
it  also  attempted  much  more.  It  was  the  institution  relied 
upon  to  give  candidates  for  membership  in  the  guilds  the  ability 
to  conduct  a  business  in  a  difficult  economic  and  social  environ- 
ment. It  was  even  more.  It  was  the  institution  relied  upon 
to  effect  a  complete  social  adjustment  for  the  youths  who  were 
to  become  influential  in  town  life.^ 

The  coming  of  modem  business  may  have  brought  us  large- 
scale  production,  machine  technique,  and  the  wide  market,  but 
it  certainly  did  not  introduce  a  complicated  problem  for  the 
director  of  a  business.  Complexity  was  already  old.  The  mas- 
ter-guildsman  was  confronted  with  a  large  number  of  problems. 
He  had  need  to  be  versatile  indeed  to  administer  them  success- 
fully. Within  his  shop  and  store  he  dealt  with  his  customers  if 
they  bought  wares  or  if  they  brought  materials  upon  which  he 
was  to  work,  as  was  frequently  the  case  with  the  bakers.  If 
men  sold  him  raw  materials  from  which  he  was  to  fashion  articles 
for  trade,  as  might  be  the  case  if  he  were  one  of  the  tapicers  who 
were  required  by  their  ordinances  to  buy  "good  wool  of  England 
or  Spain,"  he  might  likewise  meet  them  in  his  own  shop. 

The  master-craftsman  was  the  chief  factor  in  the  technical 
work  in  his  shop.  He  not  only  directed  the  work  of  his  employ- 
ees, the  journeymen,  and  guided  the  efforts  of  the  apprentice, 
but  he  performed  a  large  part  of  the  work  himself.  As  master, 
he  organized  the  work  of  the  others  and  administered  questions 
of  wages,  discipline,  and  hours  and  conditions  of  work.  Even 
where  the  broad  policies  in  these  matters  were  laid  down  by 
the  brotherhood,  their  administration  was  in  his  hands.^ 

» This  statement  concerning  medieval  apprenticeship  is  adapted  and 
reprinted  by  the  courtesy  of  the  publishers  from  an  article  by  the  author  in 
the  School  Review,  XXVIII,  No.  8,  October,  1920. 

"  "It  was  no  imcommon  thing  for  the  wardens  to  distrain  his  workshop 
and  his  working  tools  for  non-payment  of  wages  or  the  king's  ferme." 
Joshua  Toulmin  Smith,  English  Gilds  [London:  N.  Trubner  &  Co.,  1870J, 
rV,  cxxvii. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SPECIALIZED  AGENCIES       257 

To  the  degree  necessary  the  guildsman  was  a  capitalist. 
He  furnished  the  shop  and  the  implements  of  production.  An 
inventory  of  the  instruments  of  a  brewer  of  London  in  1335 
showed  the  following:  "two  leaden  vessels,  one  old  chest,  and 
one  masshfat  (mash- vat),  value  i8d;  one  rarynfat  (fining-vat), 
value  6d;  one  heyr  (highs tand)  for  tuns,  value  i2d;  three  sets 
of  handmills,  value  4s;  one  piece  of  lead,  value  2d;  one  tun, 
and  one  half- tun,  value  8d;  one  yelfat  (ale-vat),  value  i8d; 
5  kemelynes  (tubs  for  brewing),  value  lod;  one  clensingbecche 
(Qy.  as  to  this),  value  4d;  also,  one  alegist  ("gist,"  or  stand  for 
small  casks),  value  2d."^ 

The  master-craftsman  was  a  teacher,  charged  with  the 
tremendously  important  duty  of  teaching  others  to  perform 
the  many  duties  which  he  himself  faced.  He  was  bound  under 
the  clauses  of  indentures  to  instruct  his  apprentices  well  and 
fully  in  all  the  arts  of  his  trade  and  he  was  subject  to  penalties 
if  he  should  fail  in  his  duties  as  an  educator.  He  agreed  that 
he  would  keep  his  apprentice  "  as  an  apprentice  should  be,  that 
is  to  say  meat  and  drink,  hose  and  shoes,  linen,  woolen,  and 
his  craft  to  be  taught  him  and  nothing  hid  from  him  thereof." 

The  "internal  problems"  of  business  administration  could 
not  be  allowed  to  occupy  the  entire  attention  of  the  guildsman. 
Even  more  numerous  and  perplexing  were  a  set  of  matters  which 
may  be  regarded  as  "external  problems." 

The  craftsman  manager  directed  his  business  unit  in  a 
complex  social  environment.  An  analysis  of  this  social  environ- 
ment indicates  that  there  were  some  three  spheres  that  need 
consideration.  One  was  the  market,  the  "trade"  of  the 
craftsman.  The  proper  treatment  of  the  problems  in  this  field 
must  have  taxed  then,  as  it  does  now,  the  best  thought  of  the 
"manager."  Second  was  the  guild  itself .  This  brotherhood  of 
business  men  of  a  common  calling,  organized  as  it  was  for  mutual 
aid  and  protection  and  for  eliminating  the  wastes  of  competition, 
brought  with  it  all  the  responsibilities  and  problems  of  associated 

^'Henry  Thomas  Riley,  Memorials  of  London  and  London  Life  in  the 
Thirteenth,  Fourteenth,  and  Fifteenth  Centuries.  London:  Longmans, 
Green  &  Co.,  1868, 1,  194. 


258  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

action.  Finally,  the  guildsman  was  a  citizen  and  a  public  officer. 
Membership  in  the  guild  was  frequently  coincident  with  citizen- 
ship and  the  guilds  were  semi-public  bodies.  They  were  the 
recognized  devices  used  by  municipality,  or  central  government, 
or  both,  for  the  regulation  and  control  of  industry,  for  "  the  gild 
under  the  master  and  wardens  became  a  better  unit  for  civic 
administration  than  the  ward  under  the  alderman."^ 

In  considering  the  perplexities  of  the  guildsman  in  all  this,  it 
is  well  to  keep  in  mind  that  the  demands  of  the  social  environ- 
ment of  the  business  were  then,  as  now,  tangled  and  interlaced. 
"In  actual  practice,  state,  borough,  and  gild  presented 
frequently  the  appearance  of  a  three-fold  combination  of  almost 
equal  forces  working  together  for  a  common  end.  It  is  there- 
fore not  always  easy  to  consider  the  gilds  apart  as  distinct  organs 
with  their  own  special  purposes  and  functions."  Especially  is 
this  obvious  when  we  note  that  guildsmen  themselves  were 
often  magistrates,  as  in  1241  when  a  member  of  the  mercers' 
guild  became  mayor  of  London  and  later  members  of  the  vint- 
ners' company  frequently  held  that  office.  In  the  same  way  in 
Durham  "the  twenty-four,"  two  of  whom  were  elected  from 
each  of  the  twelve  "misteries"  of  the  town,  constituted,  with 
twelve  aldermen,  the  common  council;  and  in  York  the  common 
council  consisted  of  members  chosen  from  the  crafts.^ 

The  not  easy  task,  then,  of  the  master-craftsman  in  dealing 
with  external  relations  of  his  business  was  to  harmonize  the  social 
demands  of  the  guild,  the  city,  and  perhaps  the  state  with  the 
acquisitive  possibilities  of  the  market. 

Specific  illustrations  of  the  clash  of  business  interest  with 
one  or  more  of  the  agencies  of  control  will  show  more  clearly  the 
difficult  position  of  the  master-craftsman  and  will  serve  to  make 
more  vivid  the  difficult  situation  for  which  the  guilds  used 
apprenticeship  as  a  preparation. 

»  Charles  M.  Clode,  The  Early  History  of  the  Guild  of  Merchant  Taylors 
of  the  Fraternity  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  London,  with  Notices  of  the  Lives  of 
Some  of  Its  Eminent  Members  (London:  Harrison  &  Sons,  1875),  I,  55. 

2  Stella  Kramer,  English  Craft  Gilds  and  the  Government  (New  York: 
Columbia  University  Press,  1905),  I,  3. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SPECIALIZED  AGENCIES       259 

One  task  of  the  guildsman  as  a  business  man  was  to  secure 

demand  for  his  goods.  This  led  to  a  display  of  wares  and  other 
simple  forms  of  advertising.  But  here  the  craftsman  met  with 
social  regulations,  and,  it  should  be  noted,  social  regulations  for 
which  he  himself  was  in  part  responsible.  The  ordinances  of  the 
Spurriers  of  London  ordered  that  "no  one  of  the  trade  shall 
hang  his  spurs  out  on  Sunday,  or  any  other  days  that  are  double 
feasts;  but  only  a  sign  indicating  his  business;  and  such  spurs  as 
they  do  sell  they  are  to  show  and  sell  within  their  shops,  without 
exposing  them  without  or  opening  the  doors  or  windows  of  their 
shops,  on  the  pain  aforesaid."^ 

As  to  the  quality  of  product  that  would  be  most  profitably 
marketed  there  was  again  place  for  a  clash  between  the  indi- 
vidual guildsman  and  the  agencies  of  control.  The  desire 
individually  to  profit  by  adulteration  and  the  sale  of  inferior 
goods  must  have  been  strong,  but  social  agencies  controlled. 
For  example,  the  ordinances  of  the  Pelterers  of  London  required 
that  "no  one  of  the  trade  shall  mingle  bellies  of  calabre  with 
furs  of  puree,  or  of  minever  of  bisshes"  {calabre ,  a  poor  fur; 
puree,  a  superior  fur;  bisshes,  some  part  of  the  skin  of  the  hind).^ 
And  when  one  acted  against  these  ordinances  he  forfeited  his 
furs  to  the  guild  in  which  the  default  was  found,  and,  in  addition, 
was  imprisoned  and  fined  upon  his  release.  The  Wax-chandlers 
of  London  forbade,  on  pain  of  confiscation,  imprisonment,  and 
fine,  the  use  of  cobbler's  wax,  rosin,  fat,  "or  other  manner  of 
refuse,"  or  the  use  of  old  wax  and  worse  within  and  new  wax 
without.^  The  Pepperers  of  Soperlane  had  a  list  of  forbidden 
acts  that  reflects  a  recognition  more  of  deceitful  ingenuity,  and 
so  profit-seeking,  than  of  pious  honesty  among  that  "worshipful 
brotherhood,"  and  the  White- tawyers  demanded  an  amerce- 
ment and  a  forfeit  from  all  who  falsely  wrought  skins.'' 

*  Henry  Thomas  Riley,  Memorials  of  London  and  London  Life  in  the 
Thirteenth,  Fourteenth,  and  Fifteenth  Centuries  (London :  Longmans,  Green 
&  Co.,  1868),  I,  321-22, 

•  '  Ihid.,  p.  329.  3  Ihid.,  p.  300. 

"A.  E.  Bland,  P.  A.  Brown,  and  R.  H.  Tawney,  English  Economic 
History;  Select  Documents  (London:  G.  Bell  &  Sons,  Ltd.,  1914),  p.  23. 


26o  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

The  question  of  working  hours  and  the  conditions  of  work 
were  likewise  matters  on  which  the  craftsman  must  have  found 
himself  of  one  opinion  in  his  own  shop  and  of  another  in  the 
guild  hall.  The  exercise  of  self-interest,  however,  brought  him 
into  conflict  with  social  regulation.  The  Spurriers  of  London 
found  that  "many  persons  of  the  said  trade  had  compassed 
how  to  practice  deception  by  working  by  night  rather  than  by 
day."  "And  then  they  introduce  false  iron,  and  iron  that  has 
been  cracked,  for  tin,  and  also  they  put  gild  on  false  copper  and 
cracked."  Further  than  this,  these  night  workers  spent  the 
day  in  wandering  about  and  then  "having  become  drunk  and 
frantic,  they  take  to  their  work."  Annoyance  to  the  sick,  and 
broils  with  the  neighbors  were  the  inevitable  results,  as  well  as 
danger  to  the  whole  city,  from  the  sparks  "which  so  vigorously 
issue  forth  in  all  directions  from  the  mouths  of  chimneys  in  their 
forges." 

Wages  as  well  as  hours  and  conditions  of  work  were  part  of 
the  guildsman's  labor  problem.  It  would  be  only  less  erroneous 
to  assume  that  each  individual  craftsman  and  journeyman  was 
habituated  to  and  satisfied  with  prevailing  rates  than  to  assume 
that  the  modem  manager  is  happily  acquiescent  with  the  mini- 
mum-wage and  child-labor  laws  or  that  trade  unions  are  always 
content  with  the  findings  of  arbitration  boards.  The  whole 
organization  of  apprenticeship  was,  of  course,  in  one  sense  the 
setting  up  of  machinery  to  administer  certain  labor  matters,  but 
we  find  that  questions  of  wages  of  journeymen  were  often  to  be 
met.'  Wage  appeals  were  made*  and  in  certain  towns  what 
we  would  think  of  as  crude  labor  exchanges  were  established 
to  provide  for  the  best  adjustment  of  the  supply  of  labor  to 
the  demand.^ 

We  are  sometimes  inclined  to  assert  that  the  craft  guilds 
were  monopolistic  and  thus  lead  ourselves  to  the  thought  that 

^  York  Memorandum  Book  (Durham:  Andrews  &  Co.,  19 12),  Vol.  CXX 
of  the  Publications  of  the  Surtees  Society,  p.  107. 

*  Henry  Thomas  Riley,  op.  cit.y  p.  307. 

3  See  E.  Lipson,  An  Introduction  to  the  Economic  History  of  England 
(London:  A.  and  C.  Black,  Ltd.,  1915),  I,  309-10,  for  a  more  extended 
discussion. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SPECIALIZED  AGENCIES       261 

the  craftsman  escaped  the  problems  of  competition.  A  more 
careful  analysis  shows  this  to  be  an  error.  Among  the  merchant 
guilds  the  "common  fund"  of  profits  may  have  been  sometimes 
known,  but  such  an  agreement  was  not  consistent  with  craft- 
guild  organization.  The  craft  guilds  were  examples  of  associa- 
tion rather  than  amalgamation  or  merger.  Each  individual  felt 
the  pressure  of  his  own  pecuniary  interests  as  well  as  the  interests 
of  the  whole.  In  so  far  as  comparisons  are  possible  with  modem 
monopolistic  organizations  the  guilds  are  better  compared  to 
wholesalers '  or  retailers '  trade  associations  than  to  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation  or  the  Northern  Securities  Company. 
They  were  associations  rather  than  combinations,  and  there 
must  have  been  a  constant  pressure  by  the  individual  to  over- 
ride the  ruling  of  the  association  just  as  in  the  early  industrial 
pools  the  members  were  with  difficulty  kept  in  line. 

All  of  the  regulations  regarding  quality  of  work  which  were  so 
carefully  supervised  by  the  wardens  are  indications  that  the 
market  interests  of  one  individual  were  at  odds  with  those  of 
another  in  the  same  craft. 

But  not  only  within  the  guild  was  there  a  tendency  to  com-" 
pete.  Ever  urgent  was  the  problem  of  competition  between 
guilds.  Thus  in  London,  in  1395,  a  dispute  arose  between  the 
cobblers  and  the  cordwainers,  in  which  the  cobblers  alleged 
that  they  could  no  longer  make  a  living  as  formerly,  because  of 
the  encroachments  of  the  cordwainers  on  their  trade. 

In  adjusting  his  individual  business,  therefore,  to  its  social 
environment  the  master-craftsman  manager  faced  a  number  of 
problems  of  peculiar  difficulty  and  complexity.  Coloring  all  of 
them  and  confusing  all  of  them  was  the  fact  that  he  must 
consider  them  from  several  points  of  view  at  the  same  time. 
Whether  he  considered  his  problem  of  wages,  labor,  hours  and 
conditions  of  work,  advertising,  the  quality  of  goods,  or  the 
proper  nature  of  competition,  his  was  not  a  single  eye.  He  was 
at  once  employer,  worker,  legislator,  public  citizen,  and,  perhaps, 
municipal  official.  He  made  guild  regulations  to  restrain  what 
he  himself  wished  to  do.  He  was  the  object  of  his  own  legisla- 
tion.   In  a  position  of  such  difficulty  and  complexity  he  held 


262  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

company  with  his  fellow-guildsman  and  into  that  company  he 
admitted  new  members.  But  he  admitted  them  only  by  the 
road  which  he  helped  to  build — the  road  of  apprenticeship. 

Such  a  view  of  the  craftsman 's  problems  indicates  something 
of  the  real  purpose  of  the  institution  of  apprenticeship.  It 
brought  the  novice  into  real  competition  with  his  fellow-guilds- 
men  but  it  brought  him  also  into  a  social  partnership.  It 
qualified  him  not  only  to  work  but  to  vote  on  all  the  social 
questions  that  were  of  business  importance.  Its  ideal  was  not 
unlike  the  ideal  which  we  hold  for  education  in  a  democracy — 
an  instrument  qualifying  for  equal  participation  in  activities  of 
social,  business,  and  political  life.  With  such  an  ideal  it  would 
be  strange  if  apprenticeship  was  not  molded  to  bring  satisfac- 
torily trained  members  into  the  brotherhood.  And,  in  such  a 
training,  right  attitudes  and  accepted  points  of  view  were 
as  important  results  as  technical  skill.  There  was  need 
that  the  guild  bring  the  new  members  to  the  common  mind 
quite  as  much  as  a  primitive  tribe,  a  trade  union  or  a  modem 
nation,  finds  a  need  for  training  novitiates  to  the  general  atti- 
tudes of  the  group. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  direct  evidence  indicating  that 
apprenticeship  was  purposed  to  adjust  the  apprentice  to  his 
social  environment.  First  of  all  it  is  worth  while  to  wonder  if  a 
guild  membership  bought  by  many  years  of  service  would  not 
go  farther  toward  giving  the  new  guildsman  the  desired  point  of 
view  concerning  the  admission  of  new  members  than  any  amount 
of  direct  propaganda  could  have  done.  Moreover,  this  long 
training  made  the  guildsman  competent  to  teach  the  technical 
work  which  was  necessary  to  continue  the  circle  of  guild  life. 
That  the  pedagogical  duties  of  the  master  were  taken  seriously 
by  the  guild  becomes  evident  when  it  is  noted  that  the  guilds, 
in  certain  towns,  did  not  allow  everyone  to  assume  the  duties  of 
instruction.  Thus  at  Chester  it  was  forbidden  by  the  goldsmiths 
that  the  graduate  apprentice  should  be  allowed  to  take  appren- 
tices of  his  own,  until  he  had  ser^^ed  three  years  as  a  journeyman.' 

» Rupert  H.  Morris,  Chester  in  the  Plantagenet  and  Tudor  Reigns 
(Chester:  Printed  for  the  author,  1893),  p.  443.     Regulations  having  the 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SPECIALIZED  AGENCIES      263 

But  there  were  in  the  organization  of  apprenticeship  other 
elements  which  were  definitely  planned  to  guide  the  conduct  of 
the  apprentice,  to  regulate  his  morals,  and  to  form  his  character 
in  such  a  way  that  he  would  be  fitted  for  his  complicated  task. 
The  apprentice,  apparently,  was  as  strictly  bound  by  regulations 
pertaining  to  his  behavior  as  he  was  by  those  pertaining  to  his 
work.  If  the  guilds  admitted  undesirable  characters  to  the 
brotherhood,  it  was  not  due  to  failure  to  attempt  to  exclude 
them.  The  apprentice  was  "bound"  to  behave.  The  master 
exercised  a  superintendence  over  his  moral  well-being,  and  this 
superintendence  could  be  enforced  with  proper  discipline. 
Even  the  apparel  of  the  apprentice  was  regulated  in  a  way  pur- 
posed to  be  good  for  the  cultivation  of  a  spirit  proper  to  his 
position.  He  was  forbidden  to  gamble  and  even  to  enter 
gambling  houses  or  other  places  of  moral  danger.  In  some  cases 
an  examination  or  a  proof  of  moral  qualities  was  required  of  the 
apprentice  before  admission  to  the  guild  was  permitted.  The 
apprentice  was  frequently  forbidden  to  marry  until  he  had 
become  one  of  the  craft,  or  if  allowed  to  marr>"  the  permission 
of  the  master  was  necessary.^ 

The  master  also  who  contracted  to  teach  his  trade  to  an 
apprentice  was  required  by  the  guild  regulations  to  pay  strict 
attention  to  his  moral  and  social  education.  The  Ordinances  of 
the  Cappers  of  Coventry  are  perhaps  typical  in  their  provision 
that  the  wardens  might  admonish  a  master  of  whose  treatment 
an  apprentice  complained  and  could  remove  the  apprentice  for 
better  instruction  to  a  different  master.  They  tested  the  effi- 
ciency of  instruction  by  yearly  examinations  of  apprentices. 


same  effect  were  in  vogue  at  Leicester  where  the  journeyman  was  required 
to  work  for  wages  for  three  years  before  setting  up  shop  {Records  of  Leicester, 
III,  28).  Similar  rules  prevailed  for  the  carpenters  and  paviors  of  London. 
^  Instances  of  close  supervision  of  conduct  are  shown  in  Joshua  Toulmin 
Smith's  "English  Gilds,  CXXIX,"  in  The  Records  of  the  City  of  Norwich 
(Norwich:  Jarrold  &  Sons,  Ltd.,  1906-10),  II,  28;  in  Mary  Dormer  Harris, 
Life  in  an  Old  English  Town  (London:  Sonnenschein  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  1898) 
p.  274;  and  in  extracts  from  the  Records  of  the  Merchant  Adventurers  of 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne  (Durham:  Andrews  &  Co.,  1895-99),  Vol.  XCIII  of 
the  Publications  of  the  Surtees  Society,  II,  20. 


264  •  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Finally,  there  was,  as  the  most  important  element  in  the 
social  education  of  the  apprentice,  his  dose,  personal,  and  con- 
tinuous relation  to  the  master-craftsman.  From  the  standpoint 
of  training  in  the  management  of  business,  both  in  internal  and 
external  relations,  the  effect  of  this  was  all-important.  The 
apprentice  was  associated  with  the  master  every  day  in  the  shop. 
He  met  those  who  came  to  sell  and  those  who  came  to  buy. 
Every  attack  upon  the  problems  of  internal  administration  was 
under  his  observation,  and  no  contact  with  the  social  environ- 
ment was  so  far  removed  that  he  was  unaware  of  it.  Daily  he 
must  have  heard  the  master  discuss  the  social  situation  with 
fellow-craftsmen  of  the  same  interests,  and  doubtlessly  the 
apprentice,  as  he  grew  in  skill  and  the  confidence  of  the  master, 
must  have  entered  into  the  discussion  of  business  problems. 

The  relationship  of  master  and  apprentice  outside  of  the  shop 
was  of  such  a  character  as  to  effect  the  most  desirable  education 
for  the  apprentice,  both  in  business  and  in  all  those  important 
social  contacts  which  have  been  described.  The  master  was 
bound  to  feed,  clothe,  and  house  the  apprentice.  The  younger 
man  ate  at  his  master's  table,  slept  under  his  roof,  aided  the 
wife  and  family  of  the  guildsman  in  their  home,  and  was  in  a 
very  full  sense  *'one  of  the  family."  Social  differences  were 
small,  and  the  future  of  the  apprentice  of  such  certainty,  if  he 
took  advantage  of  circumstances,  as  to  give  no  reason  for  a 
feeling  of  caste. 

With  such  features,  it  is  evident  that  the  institution  of 
apprenticeship  was  well  planned  to  train  for  business  in  that 
broad  sense  which  involves  an  adaptation  to  the  social  environ- 
ment by  which  a  business  is  limited  and  conditioned  quite  as 
much  as  in  the  technical  processes  of  craft  skill. 

As  such  a  trainmg  it  might  have  lasted  indefinitely  had  the 
economic  conditions  remained  imchanged.  But  the  discoveries 
and  explorations  of  the  fifteenth  century  opened  the  world  to 
the  possibility  of  exchange.  The  rapid  growth  of  banking, 
transportation,  and  communication  devices  aided  this  possibility. 
Political  changes  too  were  important  in  giving  England  a  new 
centralized  national  strength.    These  changes  undermined  the 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SPECIALIZED  AGENCIES      265 

Strength  of  the  locally  organized  town  and  guild.  Finally  there 
came  the  application  of  steam  to  industr>\  The  machine 
became  more  important  than  the  artisan.  For  both  guild  and 
craftsman  the  curtain  was  drawn. 

amercantilist's  view  of  education  for  business 

Thus  the  firmly  knit  medieval  organization  for  manufacture 
did  not  endure.  Even  by  the  seventeenth  century  it  had  given 
place  to  a  vastly  different  form  of  organization  and  one  in  which 
the  scheme  of  apprenticeship  could  not  operate  effectively. 
In  the  meantime  the  attention  of  enterprising  Englishmen  was 
centering  more  and  more  on  foreign  trade,  in  the  development  of 
which  England  had  begun  to  see  her  future  greatness.  No 
scheme  of  education  for  business  comparable  to  that  thor- 
oughgoing training  through  apprenticeship  developed  in  this 
period,  but  it  is  interesting  to  notice  in  passing  the  state- 
ment of  a  famous  mercantilist  of  the  period  regarding  "the 
qualities  which  are  required  in  a  perfect  merchant  of  foreign 
trade."' 

My  son,  in  a  former  discourse  I  have  endeavoured  after  my 
manner  briefly  to  teach  thee  two  things:  The  first  is  Piety,  how  to 
fear  God  aright,  according  to  his  Works  and  Word:  The  second  is 
Policy,  how  to  love  and  serve  thy  Country,  by  instructing  thee  in 
the  duties  and  proceedings  of  sundry  Vocations,  which  either  order, 
or  else  act  the  affairs  of  the  Common-wealth;  In  which  as  some  things 
do  especially  tend  to  preserve  and  others  are  more  apt  to  enlarge  the 
same:  So  am  I  to  speak  of  Money,  which  doth  indifferently  serve  to 
both  those  happy  ends.  Wherein  I  will  observe  this  order,  First, 
to  show  the  general  means  whereby  a  Kingdom  may  be  enriched; 
and  then  proceed  to  those  particular  courses  by  which  Princes  are 
accustomed  to  be  supplied  with  Treasure.  But  first  of  all  I  will  say 
something  of  the  Merchant,  because  he  must  be  a  Principal  Agent 
in  this  great  business. 

The  love  and  service  of  our  Country  consisteth  not  so  much  in 
the  knowledge  of  those  duties  which  are  to  be  performed  by  others, 
as  in  the  skilful  practice  of  that  which  is  done  by  ourselves;  and  there- 

'This  statement  is  adapted  from  Thomas  Mim,  "Early  Tracts  on 
Commerce." 


266  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

fore,  my  Son,  it  is  now  fit  that  I  say  something  of  the  Merchant,  which 
I  hope  in  due  time  shall  be  thy  Vocation;  Yet  herein  are  my  thoughts 
free  from  all  Ambition,  although  I  rank  thee  in  a  place  of  so  high 
estimation;  for  the  Merchant  is  worthily  called  The  Steward  of  the 
Kingdoms  Stock,  by  way  of  Commerce  with  other  nations;  a  work 
of  no  less  reputation  than  trust,  which  ought  to  be  performed  with 
great  skill  and  conscience,  that  the  private  gain  may  ever  accompany 
the  pubhque  good.  And  because  the  nobleness  of  this  Profession 
may  the  better  still  up  thy  desires  and  endeavors  to  obtain  those 
abilities  which  may  effect  it  worthily,  I  will  briefly  set  down  the 
excellent  quahties  which  are  required  in  a  perfect  Merchant. 

1.  He  ought  to  be  a  good  penman,  a  good  arithmetician,  and  a 
good  accomptant,  by  that  nobler  order  of  Debtor  and  Creditor, 
which  is  used  onely  amongst  Merchants;  also  to  be  expert  in  the 
order  and  form  of  Charter-parties,  Bills  of  Lading,  Invoices,  Con- 
tracts, Bills  of  Exchange,  and  PoUcies  of  Ensurance. 

2.  He  ought  to  know  the  measures,  weights,  and  monies  of  all 
foreign  countries  especially  where  we  have  trade,  and  the  monies 
not  only  by  their  several  denominations,  but  also  by  their  intrinsique 
values  in  weight  and  fineness,  compared  with  the  Standard  of  this 
Kingdom,  without  which  he  cannot  well  direct  his  affairs. 

3.  He  ought  to  know  the  Customs,  Tolls,  Taxes,  Impositions, 
Conducts  and  other  charges  upon  all  manner  of  Merchandize  exported 
or  imported  to  and  from  the  said  foreign  countries. 

4.  He  ought  to  know  in  what  several  commodities  each  Countrey 
abounds,  and  what  be  the  wares  which  they  want,  and  how  and  from 
whence  they  are  furnished  with  the  same. 

5.  He  ought  to  understand,  and  to  be  a  diligent  observer  of  the 
rates  of  Exchanges  by  Bills,  from  one  State  to  another,  whereby  he 
may  the  better  direct  his  affairs,  and  remit  over  and  receive  home 
his  Monies  to  the  most  advantage  possible. 

6.  He  ought  to  know  what  goods  are  prohibited  to  be  exported 
or  imported  in  the  said  foreign  countreys,  lest  otherwise  he  should 
incur  great  danger  and  loss  in  the  ordering  of  his  affairs. 

7.  He  ought  to  know  upon  what  rates  and  conditions  to  fraight' 
his  Ships,  and  ensure  his  adventures  from  one  Countrey  to  another, 
and  to  be  weU  acquainted  with  the  laws,  orders  and  customes  of  the 
Ensurance  ofl&ce  bothe  here  and  beyond  the  Seas,  in  the  many  acci- 
dents which  may  happen  upon  the  damage  or  loss  of  Ships  or  goods, 
or  both  these. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SPECIALIZED  AGENCIES      267 

8.  He  ought  to  have  knowledge  in  the  goodness  and  in  the 
prices  of  all  the  several  materials  which  are  required  for  the  building 
and  repairing  of  Ships,  and  the  divers  workmanships  of  the  same, 
as  also  for  the  Masts,  TackUng,  Cordage,  Ordnance,  Victuals,  Muni- 
tion, and  Provisions  of  many  kinds;  together  with  the  ordinary 
wages  of  Commanders,  Officers  and  Mariners,  all  which  concern  the 
Merchant  as  he  is  an  Owner  of  Ships. 

9.  He  ought  (by  the  divers  occasions  which  happen  sometime 
in  the  buying  and  selling  of  one  commodity  and  sometimes  in  another) 
to  have  indifferent  if  not  perfect  knowledge  in  all  manner  of  Merchan- 
dize or  Wares,  which  is  to  be  as  it  were  a  man  of  all  occupations  and 
trades. 

10.  He  ought  by  his  voyaging  on  the  Seas  to  become  skilful  in 
the  art  of  Navigation. 

11.  He  ought,  as  he  is  a  Traveller,  and  sometimes  abiding  in 
Foreign  Countreys  to  attain  to  the  speaking  of  divers  languages,  and 
to  be  a  diligent  observer  of  the  ordinary  Revenues  and  expenses  of 
foreign  princes,  together  with  their  strength  both  by  Sea  and  Land, 
their  laws,  customes,  policies,  manners,  religions,  arts,  and  the  like; 
to  be  able  to  give  account  thereof  in  all  occasions  for  the  good  of  his 
Countrey. 

12.  Lastly,  although  there  be  no  necessity  that  such  a  Merchant 
should  be  a  great  Scholar;  yet  is  it  (at  least)  required  that  in  his 
youth  he  learn  the  Latin  tongue,  which  will  the  better  enable  him  in 
all  the  rest  of  his  endeavours. 

BUSINESS  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

With  these  snapshots  of  education  for  business  in  mind  we 
may  turn  to  the  development  of  education  for  business  in 
America.  The  earliest  form  was  apprenticeship,  surviving  to 
some  extent,  but  by  no  means  extensive  or  highly  organized. 
The  public  elementary  schools,  too,  must  be  kept  in  mind,  since 
reading  and  writing  are  clearly  enough  vocational  subjects. 
W^e  are  more  concerned,  however,  in  following  the  growth  of 
those  institutions  which  may  be  thought  of  as  technical  agencies 
in  the  field  of  business  training.  The  development  of  these 
institutions  depends  for  its  explanation  upon  iAie  development 
of  American  uidustry. 

The  original  territory  of  the  Colonies  was  doubled  by  the 
Louisiana  Purchase.    By   1853,  Florida,  Texas,   the  Oregon 


268  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Claim,  the  Mexican  Cession,  and  the  Gadsden  Purchase  had 
again  doubled  the  area  of  the  United  States.  Into  this  newly 
acquired  territory  poured  population  from  the  East.  Between 
1820  and  1850  the  population  of  nine  new  western  states  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley  had  increased  more  than  300  per  cent  and 
continued  to  increase.  The  westward  movement  of  population 
created  for  eastern  manufacturers  a  market  possibility  which 
had  been  undreamed  of  before.  The  institutional  devices  for 
reaching  this  lucrative  western  market  came  on  apace.  Primi- 
tive river  traffic  in  flatboats  was  supplemented  by  the  steam- 
boats. River  freight- traffic  charges  fell  from  $140  to  $20  a  ton. 
By  1856  more  than  a  thousand  steamboats  plied  the  Mississippi 
and  its  tributaries.  Lake  commerce  was  also  being  developed, 
and  by  1840,  500  miles  of  canals  had  been  completed,  connect- 
ing the  lakes  with  the  Ohio  River.  In  i860  there  was  already 
a  network  of  railroad  systems  as  far  west  as  the  Missouri. 
Supplementing  these  facilities  had  come  the  telegraph  in  1844. 
Gradually  there  developed  in  various  lines  of  trade  the  increas- 
ing use  of  the  sales  agent  and  the  wholesaler-retailer  type  of 
market  distribution  by  means  of  which  the  needs  of  the  West  for 
manufactured  goods  might  be  supplied.  Concomitant  with 
these  there  came  a  growth  of  commercial  agencies,  of  market 
news  reports,  of  newspapers  and  other  media  for  carrying 
information.     In  summarizing  this   development  Clark  says:^ 

By  1825  American  manufacturers  had  facilities  for  placing  their 
products  conveniently  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Domestic  goods 
were  quoted  regularly  in  prices  current  from  Boston  to  New  Orleans 
and  were  standardized  sufficiently  to  be  ordered  by  conventional 
descriptions.  Thereafter,  the  development  of  home  markets  was 
extensive  rather  than  intensive.  Its  course  was  controlled  by 
improved  communication  and  growth  or  settlement  rather  than  by 
fundamental  changes  of  organization.  A  single  generation  had 
witnessed  this  advance  from  a  dispersed  and  unorganized  national 
market  to  systematic  methods  of  distribution,  controlled  by  adequate 
commercial  machinery. 

^Victor  S.  Clark:  History  of  Manufactures  in  the  United  States,  i6oy- 
1806,  p.  358-59. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SPECIALIZED  AGENCIES       269 

Factory  production,  a  wide  market,  and  the  large  volume 
of  business  transacted  with  distant  customers,  gave  rise  to  a 
demand  for  a  vast  amount  of  what  A.  W,  Shaw  has  called  the 
facilitating  processes  of  business.  Transactions  must  be  re- 
corded, letters  must  be  written,  reports  of  business  too  large  for 
personal  observation  must  be  given  as  a  means  of  control  to 
the  business  organizer,  calculations  of  diverse  sorts  and  varieties 
must  be  made,  estimates  and  proposals  computed  and  pre- 
sented for  the  judgment  of  the  director  of  the  large  business. 
In  other  words,  the  increased  size  of  business,  coupled  with  a 
distant  impersonal  market  and  the  variety  of  specialized  func- 
tionaries who  aided  in  the  distribution  of  goods,  called  upon 
accounting  and  communication  to  function  as  they  had  not 
functioned  before.  The  work  which  was  called  for  did  not  need 
a  great  amount  of  intelligence,  enterprise  or  initiative;  it 
required  accuracy,  exactness,  and  painstaking  care  in  the 
pertormance  of  specialized  clerical  tasks.  For  such  training 
apprenticeship  was  at  best  a  clumsy  and  extravagant  instru- 
ment. To  replace  it  there  now  appeared,  at  first  in  primitive 
form  and  later  in  a  highly  organized  way,  the  institution  which 
we  know  as  the  American  business  college. 

Students  of  the  early  history  of  the  private  commercial 
schools  in  America  agree  as  to  the  pioneers  in  the  movement 
but  disagree  as  to  the  individual  who  is  to  be  classed  as  first. 
R.  M.  Bartlett,  first  of  Philadelphia,  then  of  Pittsburgh,  and 
finally  of  Cincinnati,  is  claimed  by  some  writers  to  be  the  first 
in  the  business-college  field.  His  position  is  disputed  respec- 
tively by  the  champions  of  Peter  Duff,  of  Pittsburgh,  of  G.  N. 
Comer,  of  Boston,  and  Jonathan  Jones,  of  St.  Louis,  all  of  whom 
offered  private  commercial  education  in  the  early  days  of  the 
movement.  Dolbear,  who  opened  a  school  in  New  York  in 
1835,  is  also  named  by  some  as  the  leader  in  the  field.  Unques- 
tionably among  the  first  of  the  private  schools  was  that  of 
James  Gordon  Bennett,  who  is  said  to  have  started  a  school  in 
New  York  in  1824  which  he  heralded  with  the  following 
annoimcement: 


270  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

The  subscriber,  encouraged  by  several  gentlemen,  intends  open- 
ing in  Ann,  near  Nassau  Street,  an  English  classical  and  mathe- 
matical school  for  the  instruction  of  young  gentlemen  intended  for 
merchantile  pursuits.  Instruction  wall  be  given  in  the  following 
branches: — 

Reading,  elocution,  penmanship,  and  arithmetic;  algebra,  as- 
tronomy, history,  and  geography;  moral  philosophy,  commercial 
law,  and  pohtical  economy;  English  grammar  and  composition;  and 
also  if  required,  the  French  and  Spanish  languages  by  natives  of 
these  countries. 

Bookkeeping  and  merchants'  accounts  will  be  taught  in  the  most 
approved  and  scientific  forms. 

The  school  will  be  conducted,  in  all  the  principal  branches, 
according  to  the  inductive  method  of  instruction,  and  particularly 
so  in  arithmetic,  geography,  and  English  grammar. 

It  will  commence  about  the  first  of  November. 

References:  J.  S.  Bartlett,  M.D.,  Albion  Office;  Messrs.  Smith 
and  Hyslop,  Pearl  Street;  Mr.  Henry  T.  Margarey,  Broadway; 
Mr.  P.  Whitin,  Jr.,  Maiden  Lane. 

J.  Gordon  Benneti 

N.B.—  Application  may  be  made  to  J.  G.  B.  at  148  Fulton  Street.^ 

Bartlett's  statement  of  his  experience  in  seeking  employ- 
ment illustrates  at  once  the  failure  of  the  old  apprenticeship 
system  to  train  for  the  new  commercial  demands  and  the 
demand  which  was  growing  up  for  workers  in  the  clerical  side 
of  business. 

He  says  that  when  he  became  of  age  he  wished  to  know  more  of 
bookkeeping,  but  could  find  no  instruction.  He  offered  to  enter 
business  houses  and  learn,  but  was  told  that  proprietors  did  not. 
want  to  be  bothered.  The  predicament  in  which  he  was  placed  was 
of  not  being  taken  into  an  office  unless  he  knew  bookkeeping,  and 
yet  having  no  place  to  go  and  learn.* 

The  early  business  colleges  and  the  early  efforts  toward 
education  by  penijien  were  for  the  most  part  the  individual 

'  This  announcement  is  from  a  paper  read  by  Mr.  E.  M.  Barber  before 
the  Eastern  Commercial  Teachers'  Association  in  1903. 

'  Herrick,  Meaning  and  Practice  of  Commercial  Education,  p.  180. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SPECIALIZED  AGENCIES       271 

efforts  of  men  who  saw  a  need  and  attempted  personally  to 
fill  it.  The  year  1853  marks  a  new  epoch  in  the  histor>'  of  the 
type  of  business  training  which  we  are  here  considering.  In 
that  year  H.  B.  Br>'ant  and  H.  D.  Stratton,  both  of  whom  had 
been  students  in  a  Cleveland  business  college,  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  James  W.  Lusk  and  established  the  first  Bryant  and 
Stratton  School.  The  entrance  of  Bryant  and  Stratton  into 
the  field  mark"^  the  institutionalizing  of  the  ideal  of  Bartlett, 
Packard,  and  others.  Bryant  and  Stratton  set  about  to  make 
their  business  college  a  national  institution  which  should  give 
training  for  business  to  the  population  of  ever>''  part  of  the 
country.  They  proposed  to  establish  one  of  their  schools  in- 
every  city  of  over  10,000  population.  Each  of  these  schools 
was  to  use  uniform  textbooks.  Instruction  was  to  be  given  in 
penmanship,  bookkeeping,  commercial  arithmetic,  and  com- 
mercial law.  They  devised  a  system  of  interchangeable  scholar- 
ships which  enabled  students  to  transfer  to  schools  in  various 
cities  at  will,  and  to  obtain  the  work  offered  at  such  periods 
throughout  their  lives  as  were  most  convenient.  Their  usual 
scheme  of  organization  in  a  new  city  was  to  establish  a  "local 
partner"  who  took  charge  of  the  school  and  received  a  com- 
mission ranging  from  30  to  50  per  cent  of  the  income. 

The  early  development  of  the  business  college  was  in 
response  to  the  developing  economic  organization.  The  second 
stage,  in  which  it  became  nation  wide  in  scope  and  carefully 
organized,  shows  a  similar  relationship.  The  following  quota- 
tions, one  dealing  with  industrial  development  after  1850,  and 
one  with  the  development  of  the  business  college  after  1850, 
indicate  how  closely  the  educational  institution  was  following 
economic  changes. 

In  England  the  big  factory  came  in  late  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
beginning  in  the  cotton  industry;  but  its  rise  was  retarded  in  America. 

Although  one  must  be  extremely  careful  not  to  imagine  that  any 
establishments  just  like  the  average  are  actually  to  be  foimd,  and 
not  to  forget  the  great  variety  of  sizes  and  kinds  of  businesses  that 
exist,  still  it  is  of  some  significance  to  note  the  change  in  the  size  of 
the  average  manufacturing  establishment 


272  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

One  may  form  a  rough  picture  of  the  average  manufacturing 
establishment  of  1850  having  a  capital  of  $4300,  employing  7  wage 
earners,  and  turning  out  products  valued  at  $8200.  Over  against 
this  may  be  put  the  establishment  of  1910  with  its  capital  of  $64,800, 
its  labor  force  of  25  men,  and  its  output  valued  at  over  $76,000. 
In  contrast  with  Hamilton's  characterization  one  may  put  the  words 
of  a  living  economist : 

"The  typical  unit  of  production  is  no  longer  a  single  family  or  a 
small  group  of  persons  working  with  a  few  cheap,  simple  tools  upon 
small  quantities  of  material,  but  a  compact  and  closely  organized 
mass  of  labor  composed  of  hundreds  of  individuals  co-operating  with 
large  quantities  of  expensive  and  intricate  machinery,  through  which 
passes  a  continuous  and  mighty  volume  of  raw  material  on  its  journey 
to  the  hands  of  the  consuming  public.''^ 

Against  this  view  of  changing  industry  place  this  statement 
concerning  the  growth  of  the  business  college: 

About  the  middle  of  the  fifties  there  were  not  more  than  a  dozen 
commercial  schools  scattered  in  the  large  cities  from  Boston  and 
Philadelphia  to  Chicago  and  St.  Louis.  They  had  arisen  with  the 
idea  of  facilitating  the  entrance  of  young  men  into  minor  positions  as 
clerks  and  bookkeepers.  The  instruction  offered  was  very  meagre, — 
some  so-called  commercial  arithmetic,  a  httle  practice  in  keeping 
accounts  and  a  certain  amount  of  ornamental  penmanship  made  up 
the  total.  A  school  of  this  kind  did  not  require  a  large  force  of 
teachers,  in  many  cases  the  entire  instruction  was  given  by  one 
man 

In  those  days  there  were  no  text  books  for  the  "commercial 
colleges";  and  arithmetic  and  bookkeeping  were  taught  by  manu- 
scripts prepared  by  actual  accountants  engaged  in  business.  As 
with  the  text-book  authors,  or  rather  manuscript  authors,  so  with 
the  students.  These  came  primarily  from  the  ranks  of  those  already 
employed  at  the  time  in  business  houses,  a  fact  which  necessitated 
the  institution  of  evening  classes.  The  average  time  spent  in  a 
business  college  was  not  more  than  three  months,  so  that  equipment, 
instruction,  fees,  time  and  grade  of  work  were  all  pretty  much  on  a 
par.  Poor  as  such  education  must  have  been,  it  evidently  filled  a 
need,  for  commercial  colleges  throve  and  multiplied  and  with  success 
became  still  more  successful.     Increased  popularity  led  to  higher 

*  Haney,  Business  Organization  and  Combination,  p.  18. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SPECIALIZED  AGENCIES    .  273 

fees,  longer  courses,  to  the  preparation  of  printed  texts;  life  and 
interchangeable  scholarships  were  abolished;  the  teaching  force  was 
increased;  students  were  no  longer  adults  wearied  by  daily  labor; 
the  commercial  school  began  to  draw  young  men  and  boys  looking 
forward  to  employment;  day  classes  largely  took  the  place  of  eve- 
ning instruction;  school  equipment  improved  and  gradually  these 
institutions  grew  into  the  apparently  permanent  place  in  public 
favor  which  they  enjoy  today.  Official  statistics  of  the  bureau  of 
education  report  341  of  these  schools  with  1,764  instructors  and 
77,746  students,  82  per  cent  being  in  day  classes.  Contrast  this  with 
the  record  of  forty  years  ago,  when  there  were  fewer  than  a  dozen 
schools  of  this  kind,  with  say  thirty  teachers  and  a  thousand  pupils, 
and  the  figures  become  sufficiently  impressive.^ 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  limitations  of  the  business 
college,  it  must  be  credited  with  giving  rise  to  a  supplementary 
institution  which  has  developed  into  importance;  this  is  the 
convention  of  commercial  teachers.  Bryant  and  Stratton  in 
1863-64  called  the  first  convention  of  "local  partners."  It  is 
alleged  that  this  first  convention  served  chiefly  as  a  rendezvous 
at  which  the  local  partners  discussed  their  grievances  against 
the  organization  for  which  they  worked,  and  that  as  a  result 
this  and  later  meetings  were  fatal  to  the  continuance  of  the 
Bryant-Stratton  system.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  convention 
held  in  Cleveland  in  1866  was  considered  of  enough  educational 
importance  to  receive  publicity  in  Harper's  Weekly  and  to  be 
attended  by  such  a  personage  as  James  A.  Garfield.  Harper's 
Weekly  for  October  13,  1866,  in  commenting  on  the  meeting, 
makes  the  statement  that  "  through  individual  institutions  and 
admirable  textbooks  the  sphere  and  limit  of  business  education 
have  been  as  clearly  defined  as  those  of  law,  medical,  and 
theological  schools."^ 

^  James,  Monograph  on  Commercial  Education  in  the  United  States. 
James  was  writing  about  1899.  The  Bureau  of  Education  Report  for  19 16 
states  that  there  are  at  least  1,300  independent  commercial  schools  in 
the  United  States.  Of  these,  843  schools  reported  183,286  students.  In 
19 1 8,  890  schools  reported  289,579  students. 

*  For  the  names  and  dates  and  specific  facts  in  business-college  history, 
the  writer  has  drawn  freely  upon  Herrick'*s  Meaning  and  Practice  of  Com- 


274  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

About  the  same  time  there  was  formed  the  National  Union 
of  Business  Colleges,  an  organization  opposed  to  the  Bryant- 
Stratton  chain.  The  chain  eventually  fell  victim  to  the  forces 
opposed  to  it,  and  the  various  local  partnerships  were  sold  out 
to  individuals  or  to  smaller  local  chains  of  schools.  Conven- 
tions of  commercial-school  directors  continued  to  be  held  almost 
every  year,  until  in  1890  agitation  was  begun  for  connection 
with  the  National  Education  Association.  In  1893  the  Business 
Education  Section  was  first  recognized  by  the  National  Associa- 
tion, and  the  report  of  the  National  Education  Association  for 
that  year  contains  the  first  pages  devoted  exclusively  to  business 
training.  The  Commercial  Section  in  the  National  Education 
Association  appears,  from  reports  of  its  proceedings,  to  have 
passed  more  and  more  under  the  influences  of  secondar\'^  com- 
mercial teachers,  normal  schools,  and  high  schools  of  commerce. 
Two  institutions,  the  Commercial  Teachers'  Federation  and 
the  Eastern  Commercial  Teachers'  Association,  are  still 
influenced  largely  by  private  commercial-college  interests. 

It  is  not  strange  that  the  rapidly  developing  secondary 
schools,  tax  supported,  should  be  called  upon,  once  the  possi- 
bility was  seen,  to  perform  the  work  which  was  being  done  by 
the  private  business  colleges.  Nor  is  it  more  strange  that  there 
should  be  a  demand  for  modifications  of  the  classical  education 
with  which  the  high  school  began,  and  that  the  demand  should 
be  for  such  "practical  training"  as  the  business  college  was 
supposed  to  offer.  It  is  said  that  commercial  education  in 
public  schools  was  first  considered  in  Boston  in  the  fifties,  and 
that  it  had  its  beginning  in  New  York  Free  Academy  in  that 
decade.  In  1863  shorthand  (and  perhaps  bookkeeping)  was 
made  a  part  of  the  course  of  study  in  Central  High  School, 
Philadelphia,  and  the  St.  Louis  High  School.  The  introduction 
of  this  work  is  supposed  to  be  the  origin  of  clearly  defined  com- 
mercial education  at  public  expense  in  the  United  States. 


mercial  Education,  James's  Monograph  on  Commercial  Education  in  the 
United  States,  reports  of  the  Business  Education  Section  of  the  National 
Education  Association,  and  reports  of  the  National  Commercial  Teachers' 
Federation. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SPECIALIZED  AGENCIES      275 

In  1875  came  the  typewriter.  Patents  for  "typographers" 
and  similar  machines  were  taken  out  in  considerable  numbers 
between  1829  and  1870,  but  in  1875  C.  L.  Sholes  and  C.  Glidden, 
having  effected  various  improvements  in  previous  mechanisms, 
placed  the  manufacture  of  their  typewriter  in  the  hands  of 
E.  Remington  &  Sons.  The  significance  of  the  typewriter  as  a 
technical  instrument  aiding  business  communication  needs  no 
discussion.  Shorthand,  the  handmaiden  of  typewriting,  was 
already  developed  when  the  typewriter  appeared.  Since  the 
time  of  the  Greeks  various  systems  of  stenography  had  been  in 
use  and  in  England,  and  even  in  America,  shorthand  had  gained  a 
considerable  prevalence  in  legal,  court,  and  literary  work  before 
the  coming  of  the  typewriter.  The  Isaac  Pitjnan  system, 
appearing  in  different  forms  in  1830  and  1840  in  England  and 
said  to  have  been  widely  copied  and  disseminated  in  America 
by  Ben  Pitman,  Graham,  and  Munson,  was  supplemented  in 
1888  by  the  method  of  Gregg,  another  Englishman,  who  intro- 
duced his  work  in  America  in  1893.  These  developments,  like 
that  of  the  steel  pen,  were  stimulated  by  the  communication 
necessities  of  wide  market  exchange.  Training  in  the  use  of 
stenography  and  the  typewriter  were  and  are  phases  of  training 
in  business  communication. 

The  early  courses  in  commercial  work  in  high  schools  were 
modeled  closely  after  those  of  private  business  colleges. 
Teachers  were  for  the  most  part  drawn  from  business-college 
faculties  or  from  business-college  graduates.  During  recent 
years  there  is  evidence  of  some  change,  however. 

OTHER   INSTITUTIONS   MULTIPLIED 

In  the  meantime  there  have  been  growing,  as  we  have  seen  in 
Chapter  I,  a  number  of  other  institutions.  The  business  colleges, 
later  supplemented  by  the  secondary  schools,  were  not  allowed 
to  monopolize  the  field  of  business  education.  Correspondence 
schools  and  other  private  colleges  of  a  more  advanced  character 
than  the  business  college  did  not  overlook  this  lucrative  market 
for  theh  wares.  The  developing  western  market,  which  at 
6rst  offered  a  great  opportunity  to  eastern  manufacturers. 


276  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

began  in  time  to  furnish  a  less  easy  field  for  profitable  exchange.' 
This  fact  made  it  necessary  for  manufacturers  to  utilize  sales- 
manship and  advertising  in  a  fashion  undreamed  of  in  the  days 
of  easier  distribution.  To  some  extent  courses  dealing  with 
such  subjects  appeared  in  the  secondary  schools.  But  their 
development  in  these  schools  was  slow  and  fragmentary.  The 
secondary  school  was  bound  by  its  tradition  of  technical  train- 
ing, and  had,  furthermore,  pupils  of  too  young  an  age  for  proper 
work  of  the  sort  needed.  The  collegiate  school  of  business, 
therefore,  with  an  initial  interest  chiefly  in  marketing  problems, 
came  into  existence.  (The  production  side  of  the  matter  had 
been  well  taken  care  of  by  engineering  schools.)  Here  courses 
in  salesmanship,  advertising,  marketing,  as  well  as  in  accounting 
and  related  subjects,  were  developed.  These  schools  broadened 
their  field  of  operations  and  furnished  places  for  developing  and 
gathering  the  knowledge  needed  to  make  organized  courses  of 
study  possible. 

The  high  school  also  began  to  extend  in  a  number  of  ways. 
Experiments  of  various  forms  were  tried,  the  high  school  of 
commerce,  the  co-operative  school,  the  evening  school,  the  post- 
graduate course  being  among  them.  Corporations  also,  either 
dissatisfied  with  the  work  of  the  public  or  private  schools,  or 
feeling  that  such  work  should  be  supplemented,  established  a 
great  variety  of  training  courses  of  their  own.  The  corporation 
school  has  thus  become  one  of  the  important  educational 
agencies.  In  the  meantime  a  demand  arose  for  an  opportunity 
to  continue  public  education  after  the  regular  course  of  instruc- 
tion had  been  completed  or  dropped.  This  was  supplemented 
by  a  demand  that  the  years  of  required  school  attendance 
should  be  extended.  These  forces  brought  into  existence  and 
nurtured  the  continuation  school. 

Thus  we  find  ourselves  in  a  vastly  different  situation  from 
that  of  an  earlier  age.  No  more  is  vocation  merely  the  simple 
and  direct,  even  though  diflScult  task,  of  taking  from  nature 
immediate  subsistence.     No  longer  is  the  group  with  which  one 

^  A  somewhat  more  extended  discussion  of  this  matter  is  given  in  the 
chapter  dealing  with  collegiate  schools  of  business. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SPECIALIZED  AGENCIES      277 

co-operates  in  this  activity  small  and  of  comparative  simplicity 
in  organization,  and  no  longer  are  such  simple  devices  as  imita- 
tion and  association  adequate  for  training.  The  task  of  making 
a  modern  citizen  is  more  difficult  than  making  "a  Dakota  of 
the  Dakota."  For  our  more  complicated  tasks  we  make  use  of 
many  specialized  educational  institutions.  As  in  all  special- 
ization, a  central  problem  is  to  secure  a  proper  division  of  the 
labor  to  be  done  and  to  maintain  an  organization  of  our  special- 
ization which  gives  it  a  maximum  of  productivity.  Since  there 
is  no  central  authority  to  assign  duty,  nothing  can  be  of  more 
aid  to  those  who  must  define  the  task  of  an  institution  than  an 
understanding  of  the  agencies  involved.  It  is  with  helping  to 
such  an  understanding  that  the  following  chapters  are  concerned. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Has  business  in  some  form  or  other  always  existed  ?  Has  educa- 
tion for  business  in  some  form  always  existed?  In  answering 
this  question,  in  what  sense  are  you  using  the  term  business  ? 

2.  What  were  the  chief  methods  of  education  in  a  primitive  group  ? 
Why  would  these  same  methods  be  unsatisfactory  today  ? 

3.  Young  people  no  longer  absorb  ideas  from  those  about  them. 
The  family  has  lost  its  influence;  changes  in  the  economic  system 
which  made  imitation  futile.  It  is  the  large  scale  of  industry 
which  makes  formal  education  necessary.  It  is  specialization 
which  made  necessary  the  building  of  a  schoolhouse.  Examine 
these  statements.  How  much  truth  do  you  think  there  is  in 
each  one  ? 

4.  What  was  medieval  apprenticeship  ? 

5.  In  what  ways  can  the  medieval  guildsman  be  compared  to  the 
manager  of  a  business  today  ? 

6.  "The  guildsman  was  worker,  citizen,  public  ofl&cer,  teacher, 
capitalist,  and  manager,  all  in  one."    Explain. 

7.  What  were  the  internal  business  problems  of  the  guildsman  ? 

8.  What  were  some  of  the  important  external  business  problems  of 
the  guildsman  ? 

9.  "In  actual  practice,  state,  borough,  and  guild  presented,  fre- 
quently, the  appearance  of  a  threefold  combination  of  almost 
equal  forces  working  together  for  a  common  end."  Show  how 
each  of  these  forces  was  operating  in  guild  life. 


278  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

TO.  Work  out  a  statement  showing  how  apprenticeship  trained  for 
each  of  these  various  aspects  of  guild  life. 

11.  Give  a  list  of  reasons  showing  why  other  educational  agencies 
came  to  supplement  apprenticeship. 

12.  What  were  the  qualities  which  Thomas  Mun  believed  a  "perfect 
merchant"  should  have?  Should  a  perfect  exporter  of  today 
have  all  of  these  qualities  ? 

13.  "The  extensive  development  of  business  teaching  in  America 
depends  for  its  explanation  upon  the  westward  movement  of 
American  industry."  Put  as  much  meaning  into  this  statement 
as  you  can. 

14.  What  do  you  understand  by  the  "facilitating  processes  of 
business"? 

15.  Prior  to  1850  the  development  of  the  business  college  was 
retarded.  What  economic  conditions  were  the  cause  of  its  slow 
growth  up  to  this  time?  After  1850  the  business  college 
expanded  rapidly.  What  were  the  economic  conditions  upon 
which  this  growth  was  based  ? 

16.  The  increasing  size  of  business  put  a  premium  on  communica- 
tion and  control.  The  development  of  certain  techniques  made 
possible  an  increased  amount  of  training  in  these  fields.     Explain. 

17.  What  are  some  of  the  important  facts  in  the  development  of 
accounting,  stenography,  and  the  typewriter  ? 

18.  What  are  some  of  the  economic  facts  lying  behind  the  growth  of 
interest  in  advertising  and  salesmanship?  Is  there  a  relation 
between  this  interest  and  the  collegiate  school  of  business  ? 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE 

In  the  opening  chapter  we  have  noticed  certain  statistics 
relating  to  the  private  commercial  school  or  business  college. 
In  the  chapter  immediately  preceding  this  one  the  growth  of 
the  business  college  was  pictured  in  relation  to  the  changing 
economic  situation.  Something  may  be  gained  by  a  glance  at 
those  chapters  if  the  perspective  suggested  is  not  in  mind.  We 
are  now  to  make  a  more  careful  examination  of  the  business 
college,  chiefly  as  a  contemporary  institution,  with  a  view  to 
determining  its  proper  role  on  the  stage  of  educational  activity. 

There  are  three  main  matters  to  be  considered.  First,  a 
concept  of  the  business  college  in  quantitative  terms  should  be 
gained.  What  is  the  modern  business  college  merely  in  numbers 
and  enrohnent?  How  important  a  thing  is  it  physically? 
Second,  quahtative  features  of  the  business  college  should 
be  examined.  What  is  the  modern  business  college?  What 
types  of  work  does  it  offer  ?  What  is  the  distribution  of  students 
among  courses?  What  kinds  of  business  colleges  are  there? 
What  administrative  methods  are  typical?  These  considera- 
tions are  clearly  of  great  importance  in  guiding  us  toward  a 
conclusion  as  to  the  work  it  can  best  do. 

In  examining  these  features  of  the  business  college  it  will 
be  worth  while  to  note  some  earlier  appraisals  of  its  character. 
Such  a  view  will  aid  in  determining  whether  the  business  col- 
lege has  been  a  flexible  and  changing  institution  or  whether 
it  has  tended  and  still  tends  to  run  true  to  its  earUer  forms. 

Finally  there  is  the  assignment  of  a  place  or  task.  What 
work  can  the  business  college  best  do  ?  This  assignment  should 
be  made  with  possible  devices  for  improvement  in  mind.  A 
consideration  of  such  devices  is  therefore  pertinent. 

THE   EXTENT   OF  BUSINESS-COLLEGE   EDUCATION 

What,  then,  of  the  present-day  business  college  in  physical 
terms  ?    Figure  17  presents  a  graphic  answer  so  far  as  numbers 

270 


28o 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


are  concerned.  In  observing  this  figure,  however,  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  figures  used  are  those  of  "schools 
reporting."  The  Bureau  of  Education  maintains  a  maihng 
Ust  of  1,329  private  commercial  schools  which  is  beUeved  to 
contain  a  large  percentage  of  such  schools  in  the  United  States. 
The  figure  above  shows  only  890  schools.     This  is  about  67  per 


matBKR 

OF 

900 

S  s    S  5  1   S  s 

»r^^/^u^-S«^.o^-ooc^                co 

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600 

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Fig.  17. — Number  of  private  commercial  schools  reporting  to  Bureau 
of  Education  for  indicated  years.* 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  Private  Commercial  and  Business  Schools,  IQ17-18,  p.  4. 
U.S.  Bureau  of  Education  Bulletin,  No.  47,  igig. 


cent  of  the  actual  number  in  the  country.  Similar  considera- 
tions should  be  kept  in  mind  in  viewing  other  points  in  the 
chart. 

The  number  of  students  in  private  commercial  schools  is 
indicated  in  Figure  i8.  The  figure  shows  the  number  of  men 
and  of  women  as  well  as  totals. 

It  will  be  observed  that  a  decided  increase  in  enrollment  has  taken 
place  since  1916.  This  increase  of  97,191  students,  or  over  50  per 
cent,  has  not  been  due  to  an  increase  ia  the  number  of  schools  report- 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE 


281 


mg,  since  it  has  been  shown  above  that  there  was  an  actual  decrease 
of  twenty-two  schools  reporting.  Assuming  that  there  are  1,329 
private  commercial  schools  in  the  United  States,  one  can  readily 
see  that  the  912  schools  reporting  in  191 6  and  the  890  reporting  in 
1 91 8  constitute  fair  samples  of  the  total  number.    It  is  unlikely,  also, 


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Fig.  18.— Number  of  students  in  private  commercial  schools  reporting 
for  indicated  years.* 

♦Adapted  from  Private  Commercial  and  Business  Schools,  1 917-18,  p.  g.     Bureau  of 
Education  Bulletin,  No.  47,  igig. 

that  larger  schools  reported  in  1918  than  did  in  191 6.  The  increase 
of  50  per  cent  in  enrollment  within  the  past  two  years  (before  191 8) 
has  undoubtedly  been  due  to  war  demands.  The  call  for  clerks, 
stenographers,  bookkeepers,  and  telegraph  operators  has  caused  many 
students  to  enter  private  commercial  schools  where  the  necessary 
training  could  be  secured  in  the  shortest  time. 


282  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

This  conclusion  is  further  warranted  by  the  fact  that  the  large 
increment  in  enroUment  is  due  wholly  to  the  increase  in  the  number 
of  women  students.  It  will  be  noted  that  there  has  been  a  decrease 
of  2,685,  or  27  per  cent,  in  the  number  of  men  students  enrolled  and 
an  increase  of  99,876,  or  107  per  cent,  in  the  number  of  women 
students  enrolled.  In  other  words,  the  enrollment  of  women  students 
has  more  than  doubled  within  the  past  two  years.  From  the  figure 
it  will  be  observed  that  there  has  been  a  more  rapid  increase  since 
1900  in  the  number  of  women  than  in  the  number  of  men.^ 

EARLIER  APPRAISALS   OF  THE   BUSINESS  COLLEGE 

As  early  as  1890  we  have  an  evaluation  of  the  business  col- 
lege by  Dr.  James,  perhaps  the  best  observer  of  business  educa- 
tion of  the  time.^ 

As  to  the  so-called  conmiercial  or  business  colleges,  I  would  not 
willingly  do  them  an  injustice.  I  believe  that  they  are  a  great  and 
permanent  constituent  of  our  educational  system.  They  have  done 
and  are  doing  and  are  destined  to  continue  doing,  a  great  and  useful 
work.  But  the  training  which  they,  with  few  exceptions,  furnish 
can  scarcely  be  called  a  higher  training  at  all.  It  has  to  do  with 
"faciUties" — indeed  chiefly  with  manual  faciHties — writing,  reckon- 
ing, etc.,  those  things  that  go  to  make  up  a  good  clerk,  things  of 
great  value  in  themselves,  things  which  every  business  man  would 
be  the  better  for  having,  and  yet  things  which  after  all  are  only  facili- 
ties; they  do  not  touch  the  essence  of  successful  business  manage- 
ment or  tend  to  develop  the  higher  sides  of  business  activity;  they 
bear  Httle  or  no  relation  to  those  broader  views  characteristic  of  the 
business  manager  as  distinct  from  the  business  clerk  and  are  of  course 
next  to  useless  as  a  means  of  liberal  education.  The  knowledge  which 
they  impart,  however  valuable  in  itself,  "  does  not  suffice  to  fit  a  young 
man  for  the  struggle  of  commercial  life,  for  wise  management  of  a 
private  estate  or  for  efl&cient  public  service." 

In  1904  Dr.  James  carried  the  picture  of  the  business 
college  into  the  present  century,  and  gives  a  basis  for  judgment  as 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  Private  Commercial  and  Business  Schools, 
igi7-i8,  pp.  9-10.     U.S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  47,  1919. 

2  From  an  address  by  Edmund  J.  James,  "Schools  of  Finance  and 
Economy,"  before  the  American  Bankers'  Association  at  Saratoga,  Sep- 
tember 3,  1890. 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE  283 

to  the  progress,  or  lack  of  progress,  being  made  by  these  institu- 
tions, as  well  as  a  basis  for  considering  their  essential  utiHty:^ 

Before  leaving  this  subject  of  the  "Commercial  College,"  i.e., 
the  private,  elementary,  unendowed,  unassisted  and  uninspected 
educational  undertaking,  it  is  desired  to  emphasize  again  how  impor- 
tant a  function  it  has  performed  in  our  American  educational  system. 
It  set  out  to  give  the  girl  or  boy,  man  or  woman,  who  desired  to  secure 
a  position  as  clerk  or  bookkeeper  just  such  assistance  as  was  needed 
to  prepare  for  such  work.  No  matter  how  young  or  how  old,  how 
educated  or  how  ignorant  the  candidate,  the  commercial  college 
undertakes  to  give  him  an  immediate  and  definite  training  in  book- 
keeping, commercial  arithmetic,  penmanship,  stenography  and  type- 
writing, or  such  portion  thereof  as  is  desired.  It  made  of  each  student 
a  special  case;  did  not  hold  him  back  to  work  along  with  a  class, 
gave  him  every  assistance  in  its  power,  made  entrance  to  the  school 
as  easy  as  possible,  rarely  requiring  any  other  condition  than  paying 
the  fee;  facihtated  the  leaving  and  helped  the  pupil  in  finding  work. 

That  it  did  this  work  well,  at  least  to  the  satisfaction  of  its  pupils, 
is  sufficiently  attested  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  who 
have  attended  the  schools  in  the  last  fifty  years.  Pupils  were  required 
to  pay  fees  and  in  many  cases  high  fees  for  instruction.  The  annual 
tuition  fee  varies  in  the  better  schools  from  $50  to  $150  and  even 
$200  for  a  school  year  of  ten  months.  The  payment  of  such  fees 
by  men  and  women  who  have  to  earn  their  own  Hving  at  compara- 
tively low  salaries  testifies  eloquently  to  the  value  which  they  them- 
selves set  upon  the  instruction  which  they  receive. 

It  is  perfectly  safe  to  say  that  in  the  quality  of  the  work  which 
they  do,  and  in  the  equipment  for  this  particular  work,  the  American 
commercial  colleges  have  no  rivals.  They  are  as  much  superior  to 
anything  of  the  sort  to  be  found  elsewhere  in  the  world  as  are  the 
American  schools  of  dentistry  to  their  counterparts — and  for  very 
much  the  same  reason,  viz.,  that  they  are  engaged  largely,  one  may 
say  chiefly,  in  the  mechanical  work  in  which  Americans  excel  the  rest 
of  the  world.  They  are  not  educational  institutions  in  any  broad 
sense  of  the  term  at  all.  They  are  trade  schools  pure  and  simple, 
and  that  in  a  very  narrow  sense.  They  train  for  facilities.  Of 
course  all  training  has  intellectual  results,  even  that  of  the  prize 

'  Adapted  by  permission  from  Edmund  J.  James,  Commercial  Education, 
pp.  16-18.    Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  Co.,  St.  Louis,  1904. 


284  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

fighter.  But  the  commercial  college  aims  not  to  train  the  best 
bookkeepers,  or  stenographers,  for,  to  such,  a  high  degree  of  educa- 
tion is  necessary,  but  to  take  the  boy  or  man  as  he  is,  with  or  without 
education,  stupid  or  bright,  and  make  as  good  a  bookkeeper  or 
stenographer  out  of  him  as  is  possible  by  simply  superadding  a  brief 
technical  training.  The  Umitations  of  such  a  school  are  perfectly 
evident  to  every  educationist.  It  trains  the  clerk,  the  routinist,  the 
amanuensis,  not  the  manager  or  director  of  busines>3  enterprises. 
That  hundreds  of  the  students  of  the  colleges  have  become  successful 
business  men  of  initiative  and  independent  enterprise  simply  proves 
that  they  had  native  ability  for  that  sort  of  thing;  not  that  this  sort 
of  training  was  especially  helpful,  though  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that 
many  of  these  men  trace  their  start  in  business  to  the  technical  skill 
in  bookkeeping,  etc.,  which  they  acquired  in  the  schools. 

THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE   IN    1912 

In  191 2  the  City  Club  of  Chicago  made  an  extensive  study 
of  vocational  training  in  its  city  and  included  a  thorough  investi- 
gation of  the  business  college  of  that  date  and  place.  The 
evidence  which  they  submitted  is  important  in  showing  the 
further  development  of  these  private  agencies  for  business 
education.  The  facts  found  as  well  as  the  conclusions  drawn 
are  worth  examination:^ 

Some  general  facts. — ^The  forty  or  more  commercial  colleges,  on 
the  other  hand,  offer  apparently  exactly  what  the  students  desire,  a 
commercial  education  only.  The  average  commercial  college  pre- 
sents an  air  of  business";  the  equipment  is  quite  adequate  and  the 
plan  of  work,  especially  on  the  technical  side,  seems  at  first  desirable. 
The  students  are  offered  a  course  in  business  theory  and  practice, 
which  seems  suited  to  fit  them  for  the  ends  desired. 

Criticisms  may,  however,  be  made  upon  the  work  of  the  private 
business  college.  Only  a  few  of  them  are  really  efficient,  and  in 
every  case  the  course  is  too  short.  The  whole  attempt  is  to  drive 
the  student  through  in  as  short  a  time  as  possible,  this  being,  of  course, 
an  attractive  feature  in  the  case  of  the  student  who  must  be  a  wage- 
earner  immediately  after  he  graduates;   from  his  point  of  view  the 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  A  Report  on  Vocational  Training  in 
Chicago  and  in  Other  Cities,  pp.  240-42  and  252-56.  By  a  committee  of 
the  City  Club  of  Chicago,  191 2. 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE  285 

sooner  he  graduates  the  better.  The  business  colleges  will  take 
students  ordinarily  without  regard  to  age,  though  several  maintain 
they  take  no  one  under  fifteen  years.  They  pay  Httle  attention  to 
previous  training  and  do  not  take  into  account  the  natural  adapta- 
bility or  ability  on  the  part  of  the  student,  i.e.,  no  attempt  is  made  to 
inquire  whether  the  prospective  student  is  fitted  to  become  a  business 
man  either  in  a  directive  or  directed  position.  All  is  grist  that  comes 
to  the  business  college  mill. 

A  further  criticism  is  that  business  colleges  feel  that  they  are 
under  the  necessity  of  keeping  their  attendance,  to  pay  dividends 
on  their  capital,  and  therefore  conduct  a  vigorous  campaign  of  solicita- 
tion which  extends  even  to  the  pupils  in  the  grammar  schools.  It  is 
estimated  that  25  per  cent  to  35  per  cent  of  their  gross  receipts  are 
paid  out  to  solicitors.  It  is,  perhaps,  pertinent  to  inquire  if  this 
money  could  not  be  more  profitably  expended  by  the  business 
colleges  themselves  in  equipment  or  teaching  stafiF. 

They  also  need  public  supervision.  They  are  not  open  to  inspec- 
tion by  the  public  ofiicers  and  are  not  regulated  by  the  school  board 
or  other  school  authorities. 

The  typical  commercial  course  in  commercial  colleges  includes 
bookkeeping,  commercial  arithmetic,  commercial  law.  penmanship, 
business  correspondence,  shorthand  and  typewriting,  and  what  is 
called  Enghsh,  including  reading,  writing,  spelling,  grammar  and, 
in  some  cases,  history,  geography,  arithmetic,  etc.  The  average 
time  for  such  a  course  is  about  eight  months,  and  the  average  tuition 
is  about  $11  per  month. 

The  commercial  colleges  themselves  insist  that  their  methods 
are  the  correct  ones,  that  their  course  is  arranged  to  give  the  maximum 
of  practical  work  in  the  minimum  of  time,  that  the  course  is  conducted 
by  teachers  especially  trained  for  business  work  who  make  it  a  practice 
to  keep  in  touch  with  the  latest  business  methods,  and  that,  there- 
fore, their  courses  are  much  more  efl&cient  than  can  be  given  in  the 
pubHc  high  schools  at  present.  It  is  true,  however,  that  the  greater 
number  of  students  turned  out  by  the  commercial  colleges,  as  well 
as  by  the  high  schools,  are  ineflScient,  except  possibly  in  a  mechanical 
way;  and  they  still  require  detailed  instruction  in  that  which  they 
are  supposed  to  have  learned  in  school.  The  business  training  of 
the  public  schools  and  of  the  commercial  colleges  does  not  fit  their 
graduates  to  take  up  business  work  with  the  expectation  of  working 
themselves  into  positions  of  responsibility. 


286  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

WhcU  the  solicitors  were  doing  in  Chicago  in  IQ12. — ^Most  of 
the  solicitors  for  these  schools  are  working  on  a  commission  basis  and 
tend,  therefore,  to  be  more  interested  in  securing  the  students  than 
they  are  in  telling  the  truth;  in  the  amoimt  of  business  they  seaire 
than  in  the  maturity  or  fitness  of  the  pupils  they  solicit.  In  very 
many  cases  the  pupils,  even  from  the  fifth  grade  and  up.  are  induced 
to  leave  the  public  schools  for  the  purpose  of  taking  a  course  in  some 
business  college.  Pupils  are  solicited  who  have  no  adaptability  for 
commercial  training. 

Many  students  are  secured  by  means  of  what  must  be  regarded 
as  misrepresentation  on  the  part  of  the  solicitor.  They  promise  the 
prospective  student  a  job  at  the  end  of  his  short  term  of  study.  They 
draw  attention  to  the  fact  that  certain  students  have  completed 
courses  of  study  in  a  short  period  of  time  and  are  now  holding  good 
positions.  Some  of  them  who  enroll  have  sufficient  native  ability 
or  have  received  such  previous  training  that  they  are  enabled  to  com- 
plete the  work  in  the  promised  time  and  hold  a  job  when  secured. 
The  solicitor  uses  these  examples  as  a  bait  to  catch  others  who  have 
not  these  qualifications.  No  guarantee  is  given  that  the  student  will 
be  able  to  hold  a  position,  and  many  take  places  only  to  lose  them 
because  they  are  incompetent. 

When  the  standard  of  those  who  seek  clerical  and  office  work  is 
as  low  as  that  to  which  our  business  men  testify,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
promise  some  sort  of  a  place  to  the  graduate  of  a  six  months'  course. 
This  superficial  training,  especially  when  it  has  been  added  to  an 
incomplete  elementary  schooUng,  does  not  lead  to  later  success,  but 
condemns  the  boy  or  girl  to  the  low  wages  and  drudgery  which  are  the 
necessary  lot  of  the  inefficient. 

Thus  the  guarantee  of  a  position  after  a  short  term  of  study  in  a 
business  college  becomes  a  source  of  positive  injury  to  the  children 
whom  it  attracts,  aind  is  at  the  same  time  ruining  excellent  material. 
For  the  same  children  might,  after  the  completion  of  the  elementarj' 
period  with  adequate  business  training,  become  efficient  clerks  and 
stenographers,  able  to  gain  a  higher  wage  and  take  higher  positions. 

That  such  children  are  being  solicited  and  enticed  from  the  public 
schools  in  all  parts  of  our  city  is  a  fact  that  is  affirmed  by  every  public- 
school  principal  whose  opinion  was  sought  in  the  investigation  of  this 
problem. 

A  high-school  teacher  states:  "As  the  most  evident  reason  why 
pupils  from  the  grammar  schools  go  to  the  private  business  schools 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE  287 

rather  than  to  the  public  high  school,  may  be  given  the  work  done 
among  grammar-school  pupils  of  the  upper  grades  and  their  parents 
by  the  sohcitors  of  the  business  schools." 

A  high-school  teacher  of  stenography  says:  "The  business 
colleges  are  indefatigable  in  their  efforts  to  secure  the  pupils  as  low 
down  as  the  fourth  grade." 

In  ten  high  schools  located  in  various  sections  of  the  city,  862 
pupils  in  the  first  year  of  the  high  school«were  asked  to  write  a  theme 
on  "Why  do  not  more  pupils  enter  the  high  schools  of  our  city?" 
The  number  of  reasons  in  these  themes  varies  from  two  or  three  to  a 
dozen.  But  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  565  of  these  pupils  give,  as 
a  leading  reason,  the  work  of  the  business  college  agents. 

One  proprietor  says:  "Business-college  training  in  Chicago  is 
in  large  measure  a  failure,  because  of  soliciting  children,  and  employ- 
ing teachers  who  lack  training.  Poor  foundation,  poor  teachers  and 
text-books  which  produce  the  largest  cash  dividend  are  not  con- 
ducive to  eflficient  office  help. 

"Many  of  the  proprietors  care  more  for  the  dollars  received  as 
tuition  than  the  kind  of  training  they  are  giving;  because  of  solicita- 
tion, we  are  getting  our  pupils  too  young  and  inomature;  the  high 
cost  of  solicitation  renders  it  impossible  to  provide  high-class 
instructors." 

Still  another  says:  "We  will  get  just  as  much  business  if  we  let 
the  students  alone  until  they  are  two  or  three  years  older.  We  would 
have  more  students  if  we  would  aboHsh  soUciting  and  apply  that 
large  drain  to  the  building  up  of  our  schools,  making  our  rooms  more 
attractive,  securing  more  eflScient  instruction.  I  would  abolish 
soHciting  tomorrow  if  I  could." 

THE  MOST  RECENT   STUDY  OF  THE   BUSINESS 
COLLEGE 

In  19 1 8,  a  study  of  private  commercial  schools  in  New  York 
City  was  undertaken  by  the  Public  Education  Committee  of 
that  city.  It  brings  our  examination  of  the  qualitative  features 
of  these  schools  approximately  down  to  date:^ 

» Adapted  by  permission  from  Bertha  Stevens,  Private  Commercial 
Schools  in  New  York  City,  pp.  18-21,  33-41,  82,  92,  96.  Report  of  the 
Committee  to  Investigate  Private  Commercial  Schools,  Public  Education 
Association,  of  the  City  of  New  York,  1918. 


288  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

TYPES   OF   SCHOOLS 

From  the  sixty-seven  private  commercial  schools  of  Manhattan 
and  the  Bronx,  we  have  selected  thirty-one  for  special  investigation. 
Group  I,  made  up  of  schools  superior  in  their  equipment  and  in  the 
calibre  of  their  teaching  force  and  students;  Group  2,  representing 
competent  schools  which  have  good  equipment  and  good  teachers 
but  students  of  varied  types,  less  discriminatingly  selected  than  in 
the  case  of  the  foregoing  group;  Group  3,  schools  cheap  in  equipment, 
personnel  and  methods  of  advertising,  and  caring  more  for  speed  and 
numbers  than  for  individual  excellence;  Group  4,  made  up  of  schools 
of  low  standard,  whose  meagre  equipment  and  dirty,  neglected  class- 
rooms cannot  expect  to  do  more  than  prepare  students  to  enter  low 
grade  positions;  Grade  5,  representing  schools  which  are  unscrupulous 
in  their  deahngs  with  their  students  or  the  public.  In  educational 
facilities  the  schools  of  Group  5  are  similar  to  the  schools  of  Group  3 
or  4. 

An  example  of  Group  i. — ^I'his  school  is  as  impressive  in  its 

dignity  and  beauty  as  many  private  academic  schools  are 

One  has  a  feeling  that  educational  purpose  and  high  business  ideals 
are  as  important  to  the  school  as  the  success  of  its  commercial  enter- 
prise. It  gives  the  impression  of  being,  if  not  keenly  alive  to  chan- 
ging demands  in  business,  at  least  well  deserving  of  its  established 
reputation  for  thoroughness  and  quality. 

The  distinction  of  this  school  seems  to  be  its  careful  training  of 
pupils,  its  high  minimum  wage  and  the  confident  assurance  of  success 
which  Hfts  it  above  the  level  of  unscrupulous  or  undignified  competi- 
tion. It  impressed  the  visitor  as  a  good,  wide-awake  business  school 
wherein  students  could  find  efficient,  specialized  training;  but  there 
was  no  discernible  atmosphere  of  idealism  or  general  educational 
interest. 

An  example  of  Group  2. — ^The  chief  asset  of  the  school  is  the 
personality  of  the  principal  and  the  shorthand  teacher.  This  was 
shown  in  their  wholesome,  dignified  appearance,  their  earnestness 
in  dealing  with  the  pupils,  and  their  direct  and  inteUigent  discussion 
of  school  matters  with  the  visitor.  The  place  was  clean  and  honest, 
and  one  would  not  be  afraid  to  recommend  it  to  a  poor  young  person 
in  search  of  specific  training. 

The  proprietor,  a  scholarly  looking  man,  said  he  had  heard  of 
this  investigation  and  proceeded  to  ask  a  few  direct  and  very  reason- 
able questions  regarding  its  method  and  purpose.     He  is  a  man  of 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE 


289 


intelligence  and  culture,  and  well  informed  in  matters  relating  to 
education  generally.  The  admirable  organization  and  equipment  of 
his  own  school  are  evidence  of  his  standards.  One  wondered  why, 
with  all  this,  so  few  students  of  maturity  or  more  than  elementary 
education  were  attracted  to  it. 

An  example  of  Group  3. — ^This  is  a  small  makeshift  sort  of  a  school 
crowded  into  a  few  rooms  on  the  second  floor  of  a  store  building.  Two 
distinct  impressions  came  to  the  visitor  at  once:  the  cheap  character 
of  the  school  and  the  plausible,  intelligent  discussion  of  the  principal, 
who  is  quick-minded  and  very  alert  to  the  investigator's  point  of  view. 
If  the  principal  practised  his  ideas,  the  school  ought  to  be  a  fine 
thing — which  it  does  not  appear  to  be.  The  whole  enterprise 
seemed  shoddy,  as  if  undercapitaHzed. 

The  school  in  general  gives  the  impression  of  living  by  its  wits 
and  of  being  "up  to  the  minute"  in  new  methods  and  new  ideas  in 
commercial  education  and  in  its  policy  of  adaptability  to  conditions; 

TABLE  XXVn 

The  Requirements  and  Offerings  of  31  Selected  Schools 
IN  New  York  City 


Group 


Age  of 
ajority  < 
Pupils 


Majority  of 
~     Us 


Academic  Prepara- 
tion of  Majority 
of  Pupils 


Range  of  Usual 
Period  of 
Instruction 


Cost  Range 
for  "Usual 
Course  of 

Instruction 


No.  of  Schools 

Which 

Guarantee 

Positions 


I 
2 

3 
4 
5 


16-20  years 
15-17  years 
1 5-1 7  years 
15-16  years 


SomeH.  S.ed. 
8th  grade 
8th  grade 
8th  grade 


o-io  mos. 
3-  8  mos. 
3-  7  mos. 
6-  Indefinite 


$60-$ I 80 
55-  65 
45-  65 
48-    55 


(Information  included  by  Groups  3  and  4) 


None 
None 

5 
2 


Courses  Ofifered 
Stenography,  bookkeeping,  "secretarial"  course. 

Stenography,  bookkeeping,  typing 

Stenography,  bookkeeping 

Stenography,  bookkeeping,  typing,  accounting .  . 

Stenography,  "secretarial"  course 

Stenography,  telegraphy 

Shorthand,  typing 

Shorthand,  advanced  shorthand 

Secretarial  course 

Filing 


No.  of  Schools 

19 

1 

4 


290 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


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THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE  291 

but  it  seemed  to  spread  itself  too  thin.  We  did  think,  however,  that 
the  purpose  of  the  school  is  to  be  frankly  honest  in  all  its  repre- 
sentations. 

An  example  of  Group  4. — ^The  first  reaction  was  that  nothing 
good  could  be  said  of  the  school.  It  seemed  to  be  making  its  money 
by  fitting  low  grade  pupils  for  low  grade  positions,  and  to  be  doing 
this  in  the  kindly  guise  of  working  for  the  good  of  the  young  and 
for  the  promotion  of  efficiency.  The  manager  had  an  air  of  fatherly 
kindness  and  showed  a  certain  subtlety  in  giving  all  the  right  answers. 
But,  before  the  visit  was  over,  the  investigator  was  impressed  with 
the  relation  of  good  will  existing  between  teachers  and  pupils;  and 
also,  she  felt  that  the  degree  of  attention  the  teachers  secured  was  a 
thing  to  be  commended. 

The  emphasis  of  the  school's  advertising  and  the  remarks  of  the 
principal  lead  one  to  suppose  that  this  school  considers  itself  a  sort 
of  social  center  or  settlement  for  its  foreign  neighbors.  In  conversa- 
tion the  principal  seemed  intelHgent,  very  much  in  earnest  and  alert  to 
general  questions  of  commercial  education;  but  the  dark,  dingy 
classrooms  and  the  untidy  children  who  filled  them  seemed  to  tell  a 
different  story. 

MODERN   COMMERCIAL  COLLEGE   SOLICITATION 

Private  commercial  school  solicitation  of  eighth  grade  pupils 
about  to  be  graduated  from  public  schools  is  general.  Of  1,952  such 
children,  in  twenty-four  school  districts,  1,288  were  reached  by  agents 
or  through  the  mails.  This  soHciting  was  done  by  forty-six  different 
private  commercial  schools. 

As  many  as  twelve  private  commercial  schools  have  operated  at 
the  same  time  in  a  single  school  district.  There  is  more  solicitation 
of  girls  than  of  boys. 

Names  and  addresses  of  pupils  about  to  be  graduated  are  secured 
from  school  children,  from  name  brokers,  or  by  disguised  adver- 
tising. 

Most  solicitors  work  on  commission  and  have  no  other  connec- 
tion with  the  school  which  employs  them.  They  can  make  verbal 
contracts  which  the  school  later  may  not  uphold. 

Arguments  used  most  effectively  by  agents  are  the  shortness  of 
the  course,  the  futility  of  high  school  education  or  training,  the 
undesirability  of  doing  factory  work,  and  the  guarantee  of  a  position. 


292  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Some  business  schools  have  sent  directly  to  the  principal's  office 
supplies  of  blotters,  rulers  and  other  useful  trifles  carrying  the 
advertising  of  the  school,  and  have  asked  to  have  these  distributed. 
So  far  as  we  know,  such  pennission  is  not  given.  In  other  cases, 
representatives  have  placed  these  things  in  piles  on  a  teacher's  desk 
in  the  classroom  at  noon  without  permission,  hoping  that  they  will 
be  distributed  during  the  afternoon  session.  A  few  elementary 
school  papers  have  carried  a  commercial  school's  advertisement. 

Various  forms  of  advertisements  were  left  at  homes  by  agents, 
or  sent  to  the  children  by  mail.  Among  these  forms  were  rulers, 
blotters,  buttons,  "dope"  capsules,  picture  postals,  graduation  con- 
gratulations, invitations  to  dances,  apphcation  forms  on  postal 
cards  addressed  to  the  school,  illustrated  booklets,  Hsts  and  pictures 
of  graduates.  Two  schools  gave  dances  to  the  children  of  elemen- 
tary graduation  classes.  A  little  girl  of  fourteen  gave  this  report 
of  the  dance:  "Many  kids  were  there,  all  8-B  girls,  I  think,  except 
a  few  of  them  that  go  to  that  school  already.  There  were  many 
more  girls  than  boys.  It  was  very  hot  and  crowded  and  they  were 
screaming  from  the  tops  of  their  voices  but  it  was  nice  decorated. 
Nine  o'clock  I  went  home,  but  I  heard  they  had  later  refreshments. 
I  knew  girls  who  went  to  the  dances  and  did  not  come  home  until 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  alone.    They  said  they  had  a  good  time." 

In  its  statement  of  purpose,  the  character  of  its  claims,  its  use  of 
English,  and  in  the  quality  of  taste  shown  in  the  material  and  make-up 
of  the  printing,  a  school  reveals  itself;  and  it  does  this  with  special 
effectiveness  if  its  publications  are  considered  in  contrast  with  those 
of  other  schools.  But  reliable  judgment  of  schools  on  this  basis  is 
possible  only  for  persons  of  some  education  and  maturity.  The 
children  for  whom  this  propaganda  is  designed  are  not  capable  of 
rating  it.  Extravagant  claims,  cartoons  picturing  high  success  by 
way  of  the  business  school,  or  even  irrelevant  color  prints  of  simsets, 
are  the  means  which  we  have  found  most  likely  to  win  their  approval 
and  choice. 

It  would  be  imfair  to  close  a  discussion  of  the  advertising  in  New 
York's  private  commercial  schools  without  some  recognition  of  the 
honest,  intelligent  and  attractive  propaganda  of  the  better  schools. 
A  number  of  such  schools  put  emphasis  upon  the  qualifications  of 
their  teachers  and  show,  with  dates,  the  educational  institutions 
attended  and  the  experience  of  the  teachers  prior  to  employment  at 
the  school. 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE  293 

The  spirit  of  rivalry. — Competition  is  a  matter  of  serious  concern 
to  most  private  commercial  schools.  It  is  a  kind  of  competition  that 
is  not  so  likely  to  be  the  life  of  the  commercial  education  trade  as  it 
is  to  be  its  death  or  disabling.  It  is  very  hard  for  new  or  small  schools 
to  keep  from  "going  to  the  wall";  and  especially  among  schools  of 
Group  4  the  effect  of  competition  is  too  often  to  concentrate  all  the 
energy  and  ingenuity  upon  methods  of  outwitting  a  rival,  instead  of 
using  this  energy  and  ingenuity  in  building  up  a  better  school  and 
thus  winning  fairly  by  offering  to  students  a  better  thing  for  their 
money.  The  hottest  rivalry  is  to  be  found  in  the  relations  of  the 
private  schools  with  each  other.  This  is  to  be  expected  because  it 
is  the  private  schools,  only,  which  offer  similar  subjects  within  a 
somewhat  similar  time  range.  The  public  school  curriculimi  is  widely 
different  from  that  of  the  private  school  and  the  time  required  is  much 
longer.  School  A,  Group  3,  is  th^  active  rival  of  School  B  of  Group  2. 
and  vice  versa.  School  C,  Group  4,  concentrates  its  energies  largely 
upon  School  D  of  the  same  group;  but  School  C  is  so  much  the 
smaller  institution  that  D  does  not  reciprocate  actively.  Rivals  are 
fought  with  all  disregard  of  truth  and  fairness.  Tales  of  rivals'  mis- 
doings were  recounted  to  us  enthusiastically  in  the  course  of  the 
investigation.  An  incident  which  occasioned  some  unpleasant  pub- 
licity for  a  New  York  private  commercial  school  a  number  of  years 
ago  is  talked  of  as  if  it  had  happened  yesterday;  and  yet  the  thing 
which  occurred  was  an  accident  which  might,  with  equal  chance,  have 
befallen  almost  any  school  in  the  city.  To  illustrate  methods  used 
in  competition,  we  cite  the  case  of  a  school  which  obtained  the  names 
of  its  rival's  enrolled  students  and  sent  them  communications  offer- 
ing to  secure  positions  for  them.  We  have  seen  evidence,  which  to 
us  is  conclusive,  that  last  summer  this  same  school  sent,  to  the  stu- 
dents of  its  rival,  postcards  which  read,  "Do  not  come  to  school. 
Infantile  paralysis,"  and  signed  them  with  the  typewritten  name  of 
the  rival's  school-manager. 

Siidden  closing. — "Going  out  of  business"  is  common  enough,  in 
the  case  of  New  York's  schools  of  commercial  training,  to  warrant 
careful  watching  whether  the  closing  be  the  result  of  competition, 
imder-capitalization  or  deliberate  unscrupulousness.  The  investiga- 
tion has  learned  of  three  schools  which  closed  suddenly  during  the 
last  year: 

The  "E"  school.  "It  was  always  Mr.  E's  custom,"  students 
said,  "to  keep  everyone  paid  up  right  to  the  very  minute.    If  you 


294  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

hadn't  paid  you  couldn't  come  in  class.  When  the  school  closed 
there  were  about  one  hundred  girls  there  and  some  were  cheated  out 
of  months  of  schooHng  and  a  good  deal  of  money.  The  day  before 
the  school  failed  Mr.  E.  went  around  to  the  pupils  and  collected 
money." 

Another  girl  in  school  **H,"  who  said  she  had  paid  $30  and  had 
received  only  one  month's  instruction  when  the  school  closed,  cor- 
roborated in  detail  the  events  noted  in  the  foregoing  record.  She 
said  she  did  not  get  any  of  her  money  back  and  thought  about  fifteen 
students  suffered  a  loss  similar  to  hers. 

INDIVIDUAL  INSTRUCTION 

"Individual  instruction"  is  the  only  method  adaptable  to  a 
group  of  students  uneven  in  their  attainments  and  capacity.  It  is 
true  that  the  greater  mmiber  of  New  York  City  schools  show  homo- 
geneity in  the  general  character  of  their  students,  the  age  being 
fifteen  or  sixteen  and  the  preparation,  as  a  rule,  eighth  grade;  but 
these  students  do  not  enter  or  leave  together.  With  the  exception 
of  the  best  schools,  registration,  dropping  out  and  graduation  go  on 
all  through  the  year.  There  are,  as  a  rule,  no  set  dates  for  beginning 
and  ending.  Under  such  conditions  strict  grading  is  impossible  and 
students  must  have  their  lessons  assigned  and  explained  individually 
or  in  very  small  groups.  Class  work,  which  is  so  rarely  possible,  has 
the  advantage  of  general  discussion;  it  gives  to  students  the  chance 
to  profit  by  each  other's  mistakes  and  to  teachers  an  opportunity  to 
find  out  what  the  students  do  not  know  or  understand.  In  the 
poorer  schools,  where  individual  instruction  is  the  only  kind  given, 
students  may  drift  along  in  a  vague,  unintelligent  way.  They  have 
Httle  or  no  home  work;  and  the  written  work  done  in  class  does  not, 
students  say,  receive  a  teacher's  careful  correction. 

THE   SIZE  OF  BUSINESS   COLLEGES' 

The  Chicago  study  in  191 2,  and  the  New  York  study  in 
19 18,  although  of  interest  and  value  as  intensive  investigations, 
may  well  be  supplemented  by  the  examination  of  some  of  the 
qualitative  features  stated  as  a  result  of  broader  service.  The 
Bureau  of  Education,  in  certain  recent  publications,  presents 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  Private  Commercial  and  Business  Schools ^ 
pp.  6-8.    U.S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  47,  1919. 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE  295 

some  worth-while  data  concerning  the  variation  in  size  of 
business  colleges : 

By  reference  to  Figure  19  it  will  be  noted  that  many  schools  are 
very  small,  248  having  an  enrollment  of  less  than  100  for  the  year, 
and  227  having  an  enrollment  of  from  100  to  199,  inclusive.  Only 
three  schools  have  an  enrollment  exceeding  2,500.  The  median 
enrollment  of  the  890  schools  falls  between  186  and  187.    This  means 


tnnCBER  OF 
SCHOOLS.    ^55-2 
fM      N      -^ 


\o    -o      ^     e\i      t\i 


r 


&*    d^    &*     &*    ^    c*     o^    o^    c^CT^<y*^ff*^o^CTs^^c*      o^ff*<^<y*^ 
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t  %  m  il  n  i  t  a  I  Hi  i  i  I  iU  i  i 

TOTAL  JESnOlUtBn  tOR  THB  YXAR 
Tggt  THRg  SCHOOLS  gHRQLL  2538,   3966.   AJD  67OO  BTUCTHTS  RBSPICCTIVKLY 


Fig.  19. — Number  of  schools  with  indicated  enrollment 

that  445  schools  have  an  enrollment  of  187  or  over  and  445  schools 
have  an  enrollment  of  186  or  less.  The  median,  therefore,  falls  in 
the  second  bar  in  Figure  19  in  the  group  having  an  enrollment  of 
between  100  and  199,  inclusive.  If  the  enrollment  in  all  schools  is 
arranged  in  order  of  magnitude,  and  the  array  is  divided  into  four 
nearly  equal  groups  of  222,  223,  222,  and  223  schools,  respectively, 
it  is  found  that  the  first  group  contains  schools  having  an  enroll- 
ment of  90  students  or  fewer;   the  second  an  enrollment  of  from  90 


296 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


to  186;  the  third  an  enroUment  of  between  187  and  400;  and  the 
highest  group,  an  enrolhnent  of  400  and  over.  In  other  words,  half 
the  commercial  schools  have  an  enrollment  of  between  90  and  400, 
inclusive.    The  average  enrollment  is  325  students. 

The  curve  in  Figure  20  enables  the  reader  to  determine  readily 
the  percentage  of  students  in  any  desired  percentage  of  schools,  or 


«0  50  60  70 

Pi%  corr  07  SCHOOLS 

CUBV»  0?  AOTUAl.  DIBTRIBUTIOl — . UBB  0?  BQUAl  DI8TRIBUTI01. 


Fig.  20. — Proportion  of  students  to  proportionate  number  of  schools 

vice  versa.  Reading  from  the  vertical  scale,  one  will  observe  that 
60  per  cent  of  the  students  are  enrolled  in  about  22  per  cent  of  the 
schools,  and  90  per  cent  of  the  students  in  about  59  per  cent  of  the 
schools.  Reading  from  the  base  line,  one  may  see  that  50  per  cent 
of  the  schools  enroll  85.5  per  cent  of  the  students,  and  30  per  cent  of 
the  schools  enroll  70.4  per  cent  of  the  students.    If  the  enrollment 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE  297 

were  equally  distributed  in  all  schools,  the  curve  would  follow  the 
"line  of  equal  distribution"  in  such  a  way  that  50  per  cent  of  the 
schools  would  enroll  50  per  cent  of  the  students,  and  70  per  cent  of 
the  students  would  be  enrolled  in  70  per  cent  of  the  schools.  The 
"bowing"  of  the  curve  away  from  the  line  of  equal  distribution  indi- 
cates the  dispersion  in  the  distribution.  The  further  the  curve  recedes 
from  the  line  of  equal  distribution  the  greater  the  dispersion.  The 
nearer  the  curve  comes  to  the  vertical  and  horizontal  axes  of  the 
graph,  the  nearer  the  maximum  dispersion  is  reached.  For  a  large 
group  of  measures  the  two  axes  represent  for  all  practical  purposes 
the  greatest  inequaUty  possible  between  the  largest  and  the  smallest 
schools. 

TYPES   OF   WORK   IN   BUSINESS   COLLEGES 

Not  all  students  in  private  commercial  schools  take  the 
same  course.  There  is  a  considerable  amount  of  specialization 
even  within  the  rather  limited  offering  of  these  schools.  The 
telegraphic  course,  for  example,  has  in  recent  years  attracted 
students  in  considerable  numbers,  while  the  bookkeeping  and 
stenographic  courses,  as  individual  subjects  of  study,  have 
each  at  one  time  or  another  held  the  lead.  Night-school  work 
is  also  an  important  phase  of  the  private  commercial  school's 
offerings,  and  this  appears  to  have  been  particularly  significant 
in  recent  years.  The  investigation  of  the  Bureau  of  Education 
follows  :^ 

Enrollment  in  day  and  night  courses. — This  year  716  private 
commercial  schools  reported  night  courses.  This  means  that  over 
80  per  cent  of  such  schools  maintained  night  courses.  It  is  of  inter- 
est to  note  the  very  rapid  rise  in  enrollment  in  night  courses.  The 
increase  has  been  very  pronounced  since  191 2,  and  especially  so  within 
the  past  two  years.  In  the  day  courses  there  has  been  a  correspond- 
ing increase  for  the  same  periods,  but  the  rate  of  increase  has  not 
been  so  great.  This  is  very  apparent  in  Figure  21,  in  which  the 
enrollment  for  each  year  has  been  reduced  to  index  niunbers.  By 
means  of  these  index  numbers  the  two  curves  are  brought  nearer 
each  other  in  such  a  way  that  comparisons  showing  the  rates  of 
increase  may  be  made.    The  relative  steepness  of  the  slopes  of  the 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  Private  Commercial  and  Business  Schools, 
191 7-18,  pp.  11-16.    U.S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  47,  1919- 


298 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


two  curves  between  any  two  consecutive  points  indicates  the  rate 
of  change.  Thus  between  1916  and  19 18  the  curve  for  the  night 
school  enrollment  shows  a  steeper  slope  than  the  curve  for  the  day 
schools.  Consequently  a  niore  rapid  change  in  night  school  enroll- 
ment within  this  period  has  taken  place. 

The  moving  average  of  index  numbers. — In  both  curves  certain 
irregularities  wiU  be  observed.     Undoubtedly  these  low  points  are 


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_..«.«.   JIOVIHG   AV7.KAGE        DAY  COITOSB. 
------   KOVmo   AVERAOB  -   SIGHT  C0UR8S, 


Fig.  21. — Rate  of  change  in  enrollment  in  day  and  night  courses  for 
indicated  years. 


due  more  to  the  failure  of  commercial  schools  to  submit  reports  than 
to  any  other  factor.  If  all  schools  had  reported  each  year  presum- 
ably a  more  gradual  rise  would  have  appeared  in  the  curves.  To 
eliminate  these  fluctuations  in  the  index  curves,  moving  averages 
have  been  applied.  The  enrollment  in  night  schools  since  1900  has 
increased  560  per  cent,  while  the  enrollment  in  day  schools  has 
increased  only  157  per  cent.    Without  doubt  these  percentages  would 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE 


299 


not  have  been  so  large  had  not  the  war  demands  for  commercial 
school  graduates  been  so  great. 

Enrollment  hy  course  of  study. — It  will  be  observed  in  Figure  22 
that  a  decided  increase  in  the  number  of  students  enrolled  in  steno- 
graphic courses  is  shown  in  1918.  The  number  increased  from  70,554 
in  1916  to  152,402  in  1918,  or  116  per  cent.  This  abnormal  increase 
has  presmnably  been  caused  by  the  demand  for  stenographers  on 


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E8OORAPHIC  tfoORSK.           —  — .   TB«IUPH10  OOORSI.    (WIRB) 

Fig.  22. — Number  of  students  enrolled  in  indicated  courses  of  study 
for  indicated  years. 


account  of  the  war.  The  enrollment  in  the  combined  course  which 
includes  a  study  of  shorthand  also  shows  a  gradual  rise  since  19 10, 
but  no  very  pronounced  increase  is  evident  in  191 8.  Evidently  the 
demand  for  stenographers  in  191 8  was  so  insistent  that  few  students 
would  resist  it  long  enough  to  complete  both  a  stenographic  and  a 
bookkeeping  course.  The  bookkeeping  or  commercial  course  shows 
in  general  a  decrease  from  1902  to  191 2,  and  a  gradual  increase 
since  that  time.    This  course  evidently  did  not  receive  a  very  great 


300 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


impetus  on  account  of  war  conditions.  The  bookkeeping  course  in 
1900  apparently  was  more  popular  than  the  other  courses  offered  in 
private  commercial  schools.  It  continued  to  lead  im til  191 1.  Since 
191 1  the  stenographic  course  has  been  decidedly  the  most  popular. 

Since  the  curves  in  Figure  22  are  so  far  apart,  it  is  difficult  to 
compare  the  increases  in  enrollment  in  the  various  courses  offered. 


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BOOKKSSPIHO  COUKSB. 


—  —  -—  COMBIHKD  COURSE 

— TEIEORAPHIC  C0UR8B  (WIRB). 


Fig.  23. — Rate  of  change  in  enrollment  in  principal  courses  of  study 
for  indicated  years. 


For  example,  was  the  increase  in  enrollment  in  the  course  in  teleg- 
raphy (wire),  from  1916  to  191 8,  proportionally  as  great  as  the 
corresponding  increase  in  the  combined  or  in  the  bookkeeping  course  ? 
To  answer  such  questions  the  enrollments  given  in  Figure  22  have 
been  reduced  to  index  numbers  which  are  plotted  in  Figure  23.  From 
this  graph  it  will  be  noted  that  the  slope  of  the  curve  for  the  course 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE  301 

in  telegraphy  (wire)  is  steeper  between  191 6  and  191 8  than  either  of 
the  curves  for  the  bookkeeping  or  the  combined  course.  The  relative 
rate  of  increase  has,  therefore,  been  greater.  However,  for  the  same 
interval  the  curve  for  the  stenographic  course  is  steeper  even  than 
that  for  the  course  in  the  telegraphy  wire.  In  the  rate  of  increase 
in  enrollment,  therefore,  between  1916  and  1918,  the  stenographic 
ranks  first;  the  telegraphic,  second;  the  combined,  third;  and  the 
bookkeeping,  fourth.  Similar  comparisons  might  be  made  between 
any  other  two  consecutive  intervals.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  relative  positions  of  the  curves  do  not  indicate  rates  of  increase. 
For  example,  between  191 6  and  1918  the  curve  for  the  combined 
course  stands  above  the  "telegraphic"  curve,  but  the  latter  shows 
the  greater  increase  during  this  period. 

TUITION  RATES   IN  PRIVATE  COMMERCIAL  SCHOOLS 

The  tuition  rates  in  private  commercial  schools  were  made 
a  subject  of  study  by  the  Bureau  of  Education.  They  show 
considerable  variation:^ 

Altogether,  454  schools  reported  the  tuition  rate  charged  for  the 
commercial  or  bookkeeping  course.  Of  this  number,  217  schools, 
or  48  per  cent,  offer  a  course  extending  from  3I  to  6  months;  and  85 
of  these,  or  39  per  cent,  charge  a  fee  ranging  from  $60  to  $69.  Again, 
175  schools,  or  39  per  cent  of  the  total  number  reporting,  maintain  a 
6f  to  9  months'  course;  and  48  of  these,  or  27  per  cent,  charge  a 
fee  of  $70  to  $79.  Only  44  schools,  or  less  than  10  per  cent  of  the 
total  number,  offer  a  9I  to  12  months'  course,  and  the  charge  for 
tuition  in  most  instances  is  over  $100. 

Figure  25  contains  two  very  symmetrical  distributions  similar  to 
the  corresponding  ones  in  Figure  24.  In  other  words,  groups  2  and 
3  in  this  graph  have  almost  the  same  number  of  schools  charging 
lower  or  higher  tuition  fees  than  the  rate  indicated  by  the  longest  bar 
in  the  group.  In  the  3^  to  6  months'  group  the  most  common  rate 
is  $60  to  $69,  88  schools  charging  this  fee.  In  all,  64  schools  charge  a 
lower  and  70  schools  a  higher  rate  than  this.  In  the  6^  to  9  months' 
group  49  schools  charge  a  tuition  fee  of  from  $70  to  $79.  Altogether, 
in  this  group  53  schools  charge  a  lower  and  95  a  higher  rate  than  this. 
Greater  variation  from  the  central  tendency  is  shown  in  this  group 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  Private  Commercial  and  Business  Schools, 
1917-18,  pp.  25-28.    U.S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  47,  1919. 


302 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


than  in  Group  2.  In  other  words,  the  distribution  is  slightly  skewed 
in  the  direction  of  higher  tuition  rates.  Any  school  falling  in  this 
group  and  charging  $110  or  more  for  the  course  should  be  able  to 
justify  its  action.  The  single-hatched  bars  representing  Group  4 
in  this  graph  show  the  same  irregularity  as  the  corresponding  bars 
did  in  the  next  preceding  graph.  Likewise,  groups  i  and  5  are  small 
and  consequently  show  no  marked  central  tendency. 


HliKHKP 
SCHOOL 

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90 

8c 
70 
60 
50 

40 
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20 
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20-29     30-59        40-49        50-59      60 

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TOITl 
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2-  9  HOW 

79      80-09      90-99  100-109  110-119  i20-i?9  i;c-o"x» 
OB  m  (D0UAR8K 

11   SCHOOLS.         ^2Z    91/2        12  BDin-HS        44   8CH001& 
TH&.175   8CM00LS. 

Fig.  24.— Tuition  fee  for  the  entire  commercial  or  bookkeeping  day 


Altogether  the  tuition  rates  for  the  stenographic  course  in  463 
schools  are  represented  in  this  figure.  Of  this  total,  222  schools,  or 
48  per  cent,  offer  courses  requiring  from  si  to  6  months  for  completion ; 
and  197  schools,  or  43  per  cent,  offer  courses  requiring  from  6i  to  9 
months  for  completion.  In  other  words,  91  per  cent  of  the  schools 
represented  in  this  graph  fall  in  these  two  groups.  This  tendency  to 
centralize  around  a  6  months'  course  further  supports  the  statement 
made  above  that  the  "average"  graduate  from  a  private  commercial 
school  has  had  only  six  months  of  training. 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE 


30^ 


Tuition  rates  for  the  entire  combined  day  course. — ^As  it  takes  about 
twice  as  long  to  complete  the  combined  course  as  either  the  bookkeep- 
ing or  the  stenographic  course,  a  higher  scholarship  fee  is  necessarily- 
charged.  In  Figure  26  it  will  be  observed  that  no  schools  undertake 
to  give  this  course  in  three  months  or  less,  consequently  Group  i 
is  not  represented.  There  are  relatively  fewer  schools  in  groups  2 
and  3  than  in  the  two  graphs  next  preceding.     The  majority  of  the 


SCHOOia. 
90 


'22 


t 


i^ 


£EL 


M 


20-29      jo-39    *0-*9    50-59      60-69      70-79    80-09    90-99     100-ie9  XiO-119  120-129  130-OVSP 
TUITICH  FSS   (WIXAS8) 
J,        \V<>:<-}.\    0-3  H0STH3  -   XI  SCHOOLS.  \iV/^/^    9  1/2  -   12  K0BTH8  -  31  SCHOOLS 

5  1/2-6  JfOBTHS  -   222   8CE00LS.CZZZ1    12   1/2  -    15  U0HTH3  -  2 

6  1/2-9  MOUTHS  -   197   SCHOOLS. 


UBGTH  OV  COtmsS: 


Fig.  25. — Tuition  fee  for  entire  stenographic  day  course 


schools  are  found  in  Group  4;  that  is  they  require  from  9^  to  12 
months  for  the  completion  of  the  course.  Altogether,  321  schools 
reported  the  scholarship  fee  charged  for  the  combined  course.  Of 
this  number,  172  schools,  or  54  per  cent,  fall  in  Group  4.  The  cus- 
tomary fee  charged  students  in  schools  of  this  type  for  this  course 
is  from  $100  to  $139,  inclusive.  Only  30  schools  charge  a  higher 
rate,  while  i2>  charge  a  lower  rate.  In  the  schools  in  Group  5,  that  is 
in  schools  offering  a  course  requiring  from  12I  to  15  months  for  com- 
pletion, the  largest  group  of  schools  charge  from  $140  to  $149.  Two 
other  groups  almost  as  large,  consisting  of  12  schools  each,  charge 


304 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


$icx)  to  $119  and  $120  to  $139,  respectively.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
remarkable  symmetry  is  evident  for  the  single-hatched,  double- 
hatched,  and  black  bars.  A  tendency  for  a  few  schools  to  charge  an 
unusually  high  fee  is  shown  in  the  isolated  bars  at  the  right. 

In  addition  to  the  schools  listed  in  Figure  26,  1 2  schools  offer  a 
combined  course  extending  from  16  to  42  months  and  charge  tuition 


^ 

OT      ^ 

r*H^ 

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-^^iSX    "-1^9       "^S"        ** 

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toon  or  oovRsi- 


6O-79       80-99   100-119  120-139  140-159     160-179   180-199  200-219     220-239     2*0-259 
TUITI05  na   (DOIUJIOI 
VJ^/^/A    3    1/2-6  KOmtS  .    2$   BCHOOLS  ■■    9  1/2        iS  MOSTOS  -    173  BCBOOU. 

6   1/2-9  KOITTMS  -    68  BCHOOLS  '  I     12    1/2        15  MOHTHS  -    56  SCHOOLS 


Fig.  26. — Tuition  fee  for  entire  day  course 

fees  varying  from  $60  in  one  school  to  $270  in  another.  Only  3 
schools  have  a  course  longer  than  18  months,  and  5  offer  an  18  months' 
course.    The  usual  charge  for  the  course  ranges  from  $110  to  $180. 


CONTROL  or  THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE  NEEDED 

Most  careful  observers  of  the  business  college  have  been 
inclined  to  agree  that  it  has  performed  for  American  business 
and  for  the  community  at  large,  a  useful  piece  of  work.  Most 
of  the  observers  are  also  inclined  to  agree  that  the  business 
college,  speaking  now  generically,  has  been  guilty  of  a  very 
large  amount  of  bad  practice.  It  is  an  institution  whose 
activities  often  furnish  a  striking  example  of  the  lack  of  incidence 
between  private  gain  and  social  welfare.     The  urge  for  a  rectify- 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE  305 

ing  of  business-college  practice,  with  the  retention  of  its  useful 
function,  has  been  frequent. 

The  state  of  New  York  makes  a  rather  unavailing  effort  to 
control  the  business  college  through  its  State  Department  of 
Education:^ 

At  the  present  time  the  State  Department  of  Education  has  no 
legal  authority  to  inspect  the  private  business  schools  in  operation 
in  this  state.  Under  the  Regents'  regulations  private  business  schools 
may  be  registered  by  the  State  Department  of  Education.  When  a 
school  of  this  type  makes  application  for  registration  a  verj'-  care- 
ful inspection  is  made  of  the  institution  to  determine  its  fitness  to 
offer  commercial  courses.  This  inspection  includes  a  careful  study 
of  the  qualifications  of  teachers,  courses  of  study,  housing  facihties 
and  equipment.  No  school  is  approved  unless  it  meets  the  best  of 
the  standards  in  the  field  of  commercial  education. 

While  such  approval  and  registration  make  it  possible  for 
the  school  to  make  an  added  appeal  for  patronage,  this  seems 
to  be  an  insufficient  if  not  a  feeble  control  method.  Stronger 
methods  are  needed. 

Miss  Bertha  Stevens,  who  compiled  the  report  of  the  New 
York  Committee  to  Investigate  Private  Commercial  Schools^ 
says:* 

To  make  private  schools  safe,  in  New  York  City,  there  is  need  for: 

The  issuing  of  a  State  license,  without  which  it  should  be  illegal 
to  open  or  maintain  any  sort  of  private  educational  institution. 

Annual  registration  of  all  private  educational  institutions  with 
the  State  Department  of  Education.  Registration  should  be  com- 
pulsory upon  these  institutions. 

State  censorship  of  advertising  material.  It  should  be  required 
of  the  schools  to  file  with  the  State  Department  of  Education,  samples 
of  all  forms  used. 

^The  quotation  is  a  statement  by  L.  A.  Wilson,  director  of  the  Division 
of  Vocational  and  Extension  Education  of  New  York  state,  April,  1922. 

'Adapted  by  permission  from  Bertha  Stevens,  Private  Commercial 
Schools,  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx,  pp.  133-34.  Report  of  the  Committee 
to  Investigate  Private  Commercial  Schools,  the  Public  Education  Associa- 
tion of  the  City  of  New  York,  1918. 


3o6  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Official  standardization  of  course  of  study,  entrance  requirements, 
preparation  of  teachers,  and  equipment.  Also,  schools  should  fur- 
nish to  the  State  evidence  of  solvency  and  sufficient  capitalization. 

Regular  official  inspection  and  supervision,  with  power  to  revoke 
licenses. 

A  published  official  Ust  of  schools  which  are  legally  entitled  to 
exist. 

To  keep  unfit  pupils  from  entering  private  commercial  schools, 
there  is  need  for: 

Enforcement  of  the  compulsory  education  law.  Schools  enroll- 
ing pupils  who  are  under  the  law,  should  be  required  to  report  the 
names  of  such  pupils  to  the  Bureau  of  Attendance.  The  Bureau  of 
Attendance  would  then  determine  whether  the  pupils  are  being 
instructed  in  conformity  to  law;  and  if  necessary,  could  compel  their 
return  to  the  pubUc  schools. 

Popular  propaganda,  directed  to  parents  and  pubHc  school 
children,  which  will  inform  them  convincingly  that  the  average 
eighth-grade  pupil  is  not  ready  to  study  stenography;  that  success 
in  any  kind  of  office  position  is  likely  to  depend  upon  good  academic 
preparation;  and  that  the  alternative  of  factory  work  need  not  be 
shunned,  since  such  work  may  be  both  dignified  and  profitable. 

PubUc  school  competition,  whereby  the  pubhc  schools  offer,  like 
the  private  schools,  a  brief  vocational  extension  course  for  office 
'training.  Such  a  course,  however,  should  not  include  stenography 
and  it  should  be  refused  to  unsuitable  candidates.  Parents  of  chil- 
dren thus  refused  should  be  informed  of  the  fact  and  the  reason. 

Publicity  with  regard  to  the  proportionate  number  of  pupils  who 
leave  private  conunercial  schools  before  graduation.  Schools  should 
be  required  to  send  to  the  State  Department  of  Education,  lists  of 
names  of  persons  entered  and  graduated  within  the  year. 

The  better  type  of  business  college  manager,  although 
slow,  perhaps,  to  recognize  the  necessity  for  regulation  and  im- 
provement, has  not  been  entirely  lacking  in  such  thinking.  An 
organization  which  has  in  it  the  possibility  of  great  good  in  this 
connection,  if  it  conscientiously  carries  out  a  program  of  im- 
provement, is  the  National  Association  of  Accredited  Commer- 
cial Schools. 

This  Association  was  formed  December  12,  191 2,  in  Chicago 
with  a  charter  list  of  twenty-one  schools.     Regular  meetings 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE  307 

have  been  held  annually  since,  and  a  number  of  special  meetings 
have  been  called  to  consider  matters  of  immediate  importance. 
Early  in  1920  its  membership  numbered  over  two  hundred 
private  business  schools  in  the  United  States  and  Canada:^ 

The  fundamental  purpose  of  the  National  Association  of 
Accredited  Commercial  Schools  is  the  development  and  maintenance 
of  better  educational  standards,  first,  among  its  own  membership, 
and  second,  in  commercial  schools  of  every  class.  Better  educa- 
tional standards  will  mean  greater  efficiency  on  the  part  of  our 
graduates,  and  a  stronger  demand  for  their  services,  an  increased 
attendance  in  commercial  schools,  and  more  satisfactory  standing 
among  educational  institutions  of  all  classes.  Incidentally,  every 
school  in  the  Association  will  be  benefited  in  a  financial  way  and  will 
thus  be  able  to  offer  more  to  its  patrons. 

This  Association  is  seeking  to  educate  the  general  public,  and 
especially  the  business  community,  to  an  imderstanding  of  the  fact 
that  a  business  education  means  a  definite  amount  of  training  along 
definite  fines  for  definite  purposes.  This  is  being  accompUshed 
through  the  standardization  of  courses  of  study. 

The  fixing  of  definite  standards  for  graduation  means  the  length- 
ening of  the  average  term  of  enrollment  on  account  of  the  premium 
that  will  be  placed  upon  graduation,  and  further  means  the  better 
preparation  of  the  student  for  the  duties  that  he  will  assume  after 
leaving  the  schoolroom. 

The  Education  Committee  offers  a  list  of  Accredited  texts,  to 
which  list  have  been  admitted  only  those  books  that  are  modern, 
practical,  teachable,  scholarly  and  fully  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of 
progress. 

Tuition  is  made  transferable  upon  an  equitable  basis  which  will 
be  explained  to  anyone  interested. 

The  Association  conducts  every  summer  a  training  school  for 
commercial  teachers.  Special  attention  is  paid  to  the  psychology 
and  pedagogy  of  the  commercial  subjects.  Teachers  in  this  training 
school  are  available  first  to  members  of  the  Association  and  after- 
wards to  anyone  who  may  wish  to  employ  them. 

A  Universal  Employment  Department  is  maintained  in  which  a 
graduate  of  any  Accredited  school  is  entitled  to  membership.     That 

^  The  statements  here  quoted  are  from  pamphlets  issued  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  Board  of  Governors  of  the  National  Association  of  Accredited 
Commercial  Schools. 


3o8  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

is  to  say,  the  graduate  of  a  school  in  Denver  would  receive  free  the 
best  services  of  the  employment  department  of  a  school  in  New  York, 
should  he  desire  it. 

The  members  of  the  Association  are  required  to  maintain  the 
highest  possible  business  standards  in  their  relation  with  the  general 
public,  and  with  their  students,  and  every  school  is  required  to  sub- 
scribe definitely  to  the  standards  of  practice  herein  set  forth. 

Each  member  of  the  Association  is  entitled  to  use  the  Associa- 
tion emblem  upon  his  advertising  matter,  stationery,  diplomas,  etc. 

This  Association  is  definitely  pledged  to  use  its  best  efforts  to 
eliminate  from  the  school  field  irresponsible  institutions  that  have 
neither  educational  ideals  nor  moral  standards,  and  are  organized 
merely  to  prey  upon  the  creduHty  of  the  people.  This  Association 
condemns  the  indiscriminate  guaranteeing  of  positions,  inadequate 
tuition  rates,  short,  incomplete  courses,  and  misleading  representa- 
tions, whether  in  direct  soUcitation  or  in  general  advertising. 

This  Association  will  actively  prosecute  whenever  possible  under 
the  Fraudulent  Advertising  Act,  schools  that  can  be  shown  to  be 
using  fraudulent,  misleading  advertising,  or  advertising  methods  that 
are  condemned  by  the  Fraudulent  Advertising  Act. 

The  National  Association  of  Accredited  Commercial  Schools 
extends  to  every  school  in  the  United  States  that  is  willing  to  assist 
in  the  consummation  of  the  purposes  herein  set  out,  and  will  measure 
up  to  the  requirements  for  membership,  a  cordial  invitation  to  ally 
itself  with  this  movement  for  better  conditions  in  the  field  of  business 
education. 


The  following  ''Standards  of  Practice"  were  adapted  at  the 
1 9 14  annual  meeting  of  the  National  Association  of  Accredited 
Commercial  Schools,  and  is  submitted  as  the  creed  to  which 
every  applicant  for  membership  in  the  organization  must 
definitely  subscribe  before  the  institution  can  be  favorably  con- 
sidered for  membership : 

The  members  of  this  association  are  definitely  committed  to  the 
general  pohcy  of  effecting  an  immediate  betterment  of  the  individual 
schools  of  the  Association,  to  the  end  that  the  whole  system  of  private 
commercial  education  in  the  United  States  may  be  improved,  and 
may  be  placed  in  a  more  favorable  light  as  a  necessary  part  of  the 
educational  machinery  of  our  country. 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE  309 

For  the  purpose  of  accomplishing  the  objects  herein  set  out, 
each  member  of  this  organization  will: 

1.  Maintain  in  his  own  institution  such  policies  and  practices 
as  will  in  his  community  and  elsewhere  reflect  credit  upon  the  cause 
of  business  education. 

2.  Pay  his  legitimate  debts  promptly  and  in  a  business-like 
manner. 

3.  Follow  in  his  business  relations  with  his  students  and  with 
the  general  public  those  standards  of  business  procedure  and  honor 
that  prevail  in  the  best  business  houses. 

4.  Provide  the  very  best  quarters  and  equipment  for  his  school 
that  his  income  will  allow,  or  that  the  Education  Committee  of  this 
Association  may  recommend. 

5.  Install  and  support  the  standard  courses  of  study  as  pro- 
mulgated by  this  Association. 

6.  Select  and  teach  texts  that  are  included  in  the  accredited  list 
of  the  Association. 

7.  Avoid  exaggeration  of  every  kind  in  every  form  of  advertising. 

8.  Make  no  misleading  statements  or  misrepresentations  of  any 
kind,  either  in  person  or  through  any  agency. 

9.  Deal  fairly  and  in  a  dignified  manner  with  all  classes  of 
competition. 

10.  Cultivate  within  the  school  itself  and  in  its  community  the 
highest  possible  moral  standards. 

11.  Refuse  either  directly  or  indirectly  to  guarantee  positions 
to  prospective  students  and  to  make  no  statements  regarding  prospec- 
tive employment  that  are  not  fully  corroborated  by  the  experience 
of  the  school. 

12.  Report  promptly  to  the  proper  officer  of  the  Association  any 
violation  of  the  ethics  of  the  profession,  as  ^mderstood  by  this  Associa- 
tion, whether  these  violations  occur  within  or  without  the  membership 
of  the  Association. 

13.  Each  member  agrees  to  submit  to  a  board  of  arbitrators  to 
be  appointed  by  the  president  any  difficulty  or  disagreement  that 
may  arise  as  between  himself  and  any  other  member  of  the  Associa- 
tion, and  further  agrees  to  abide  by  such  decision  and  to  carry  into 
effect  such  provisions  or  requirements  as  may  by  said  board  be 
prescribed. 

14.  Each  member  of  this  Association  shall  be  one  whose  char- 
acter and  reputation  are  above  reproach,  and  who  shall  so  order  his 


310  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

general  conduct  as  to  entitle  him  to  be  regarded  as  a  suitable  person 
to  direct  the  education  and  moral  development  of  the  young  people 
in  his  institution. 

THE  MERITS   OF  THE   MODERN  BUSINESS   COLLEGE 

The  values  to  be  found  in  private  commercial  schools  of 
better  grade  and  the  advantages  which  they  offer  for  certain 
forms  of  work  are  thus  set  forth  by  the  proprietor  of  a  pro- 
gressive school:^ 

Many  factors  have  contributed  to  the  changes  which  have  taken 
place  or  are  now  occurring  in  private  business  schools.  A  most 
important  factor  is  the  breakdown  of  the  social  prejudice  which  for 
so  long  kept  the  better-educated,  better-bred  women  from  the  business 
office.  The  war  dealt  a  smashing  blow  at  this  prejudice,  but  there  had 
been  a  steady,  if  gradual,  change  in  sentiment  in  this  regard  for  a  long 
time  previous  to  that.  Also  the  demands  of  business  men  have 
become  more  and  more  exacting,  and  with  the  advent  of  competition 
in  the  form  of  free  public-school  conamercial  courses,  the  private 
school  proprietor  has  had  to  raise  his  requirements  and  improve 
the  quality  of  his  output. 

It  is,  then,  this  modem  type  of  business  school  whose  existence 
I  am  justifying.  For  the  inefficient  school  I  hold  no  brief ;  the  sooner 
such  schools  fail  and  disappear  (as  they  will  fail  and  disappear)  the 
better  for  everyone. 

In  the  first  place,  the  private  business  school  has  real  value  as  a 
stimulus  to  the  work  of  the  pubhc  school.  Just  as  much  of  the 
inefficiency  of  the  old  time  business  college  can  be  traced  to  the  lack 
of  public  school  competition,  so  would  the  public  school  commercial 
course  lose  much  of  its  efficiency  if  private  school  competition  were 
entirely  removed. 

In  the  next  place,  I  believe  that  there  is  a  keener  personal  interest 
in  the  student  in  the  private  business  school.  That  this  may  be  from 
a  seffish  motive  does  not  lessen  the  value  to  the  student,  particularly 
the  somewhat  backward  student,  of  this  keener  interest.  The  private 
business  college  cannot  afford  to  have  failures;  its  success  depends 
upon  the  success  of  its  students,  because  it  could  not  exist  and  make  a 
profit  if  it  did  not  get  the  majority  of  its  students  through  voluntary 
recommendations  of  its  graduates.     This  means  that  there  cannot  be 

^  This  statement  was  prepared  by  Paul  Moser,  of  the  Moser  Shorthand 
College  of  Chicago. 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE  311 

a  certain  percentage  of  failures  as  in  the  public  school,  but  that  each 
student  whose  tuition  has  been  accepted  and  retained  must  be  made 
capable  of  holding  a  position,  and  that  the  teacher  must  devote  the 
time  to  each  student  that  will  make  this  possible. 

The  private  business  school  is  more  responsive  to  the  demands 
of  l^e  business  man  and  is  more  closely  in  touch  with  the  actual 
requirements  of  business.  This  contact  comes  through  the  place- 
ment bureau  of  the  business  college.  Even  though  the  reputable 
business  college  will  not  ''guarantee  a  position,"  the  fact  remains  that 
the  graduate  looks  to  the  school  for  a  position  and  that  the  well- 
placed  graduate  is  the  school's  most  loyal  advertiser.  The  business 
college  manager  soon  hears  either  from  the  business  man  himself 
or  from  the  graduate  who  has  failed  to  make  good  in  what  respect 
the  student  was  deficient  and  can  take  effective  measures  to  bolster 
up  the  weak  spots  in  his  curriculum.  In  the  public  school,  on  the 
other  hand,  even  where  placement  work  is  done,  there  is  no  obliga- 
tion to  place  the  student.  It  is  simply  something  extra  that  may  or 
may  not  be  done,  and  in  many  cases  the  placement  work  is  done  in  a 
central  ofhce  which  may  never  have  been  in  contact  with  the  student 
and  knows  nothing  of  his  fitness  for  a  particular  position. 

The  well-run  business  college  has  more  of  the  practical  atmosphere 
of  the  office  than  the  high  school,  and  this  has  a  marked  influence  to 
give  the  student  a  businesslike  viewpoint  and  poise. 

There  are  minor  practical  advantages  that  the  business  college 
has  over  the  public  schools.  Its  work  is  more  individually  planned, 
permitting  enrolment  at  frequent  intervals,  whereas  the  public- 
school  curriculum  is  on  the  semester  basis.  The  brighter,  more 
ambitious  student  has  more  opportunity  to  forge  ahead  in  the  business 
college  because  classes  are  not  as  rigidly  kept  together  as  in  public- 
school  courses. 

Personally  I  believe  that  it  is  worthy  of  consideration  as  to 
whether  high-school  commercial  courses  have  not  been  growing  too 
rapidly.  There  is  a  grave  danger  that  such  work  will  be  started  too 
soon  in  the  student's  high-school  course;  that  the  foundation  and 
cultural  courses  will  be  neglected,  and  that  in  consequence  the 
student's  educational  background  will  be  insufficient. 

THE  r6i.E   of  the  BUSINESS   COLLEGE 

The  private  commercial  school  remains  largely  as  it  began,  an 
institution  concerned  with  doing  the  immediate  thing.    The 


312  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

interests  of  business-college  managers  do  not,  and  probably  can- 
not ever,  lie  in  education  of  a  fundamental  sort.  This  is  no  criti- 
cism of  the  business  college.  The  business  college  should  not 
undertake  training  of  a  fundamental  sort.  The  relation  between 
the  student's  gain  and  his  expenditure  is  remote  when  he  buys 
fundamental  education.  Therefore  the  private  school  with  a 
commercial-college  tradition  cannot  supply  such  education  suc- 
cessfully. That  task  must  be  undertaken  by  other  institutions. 
The  business  college,  however,  has  an  important  and  useful 
part  to  play  in  the  general  scheme  of  education. 

As  a  training-school  in  the  technique  of  office  practice,  where 
its  pupils  have  had  a  proper  educational  basis,  it  is  doubtful  if 
the  business  college  has  ever  been  surpassed  or  even  equaled. 
If  these  institutions  could  be  so  regulated  that  the}^  did  not 
draw  to  themselves  a  great  number  of  persons  at  an  age  when 
there  is  no  justification  for  their  being  trained  in  technique,  and 
if  the  general  features  of  building  and  equipment  could  be  pub- 
licly supervised,  it  seems  that  they  might  safely  be  trusted  with 
a  very  large  part  of  the  technical  office-work  trahiing  which  is 
now  done  in  other  institutions. 

The  proper  role  of  these  schools  may  vary  somewhat  with 
the  size  of  the  community.  They  have  a  real  place  as  special- 
ists in  the  offering  of  technical  training,  and  they  have  there  a 
large  place. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Trace  the  growth  in  number  of  business  colleges  over  the  eight- 
een years  indicated  in  the  charts.  Try  to  account  for  sharp 
changes  in  number  of  schools.  Do  the  same  for  the  numbers  of 
students  in  business  colleges. 

2.  How  would  you  account  for  the  sharp  rise  in  the  number  of  women 
.     taking  business-college  training  between  1916  and  1918  and  the 

falling  off  of  men  ? 

3.  Even  since  1900  the  number  of  women  in  business  colleges  has 
increased  more  rapidly  than  the  nimiber  of  men.  How  would 
you  account  for  this  fact  ? 

4.  What  was  President  James's  appraisal  of  the  business  college  in 
1890?  How  much  had  President  James's  opinion  changed  by 
1904? 


THE  BUSINESS  COLLEGE  313 

5.  List  the  characteristics  of  the  business  college  which  were  pointed 
out  by  the  Chicago  City  Club.  How  far  do  these  fit  in  with 
your  experience  with  business  colleges  ?  List  under  the  headings 
"Favorable,"  "Adverse,"  the  characteristics  of  the  business  col- 
lege as  given  by  the  Chicago  City  Club. 

6.  Why  should  the  Chicago  City  Club  object  to  business-college 
solicitation  of  pupils  ?    Isn't  this  merely  "going  after  business"  ? 

7.  List  under  two  headings,  "Favorable"  and  "Adverse,"  the 
characteristics  of  the  business  college  brought  out  in  the  New 
York  survey. 

8.  What  is  the  median  enrolment  of  the  890  private  commercial 
schools  discussed  by  the  Bureau  of  Education  in  the  report 
quoted  ?    What  is  the  average  enrolment  ? 

9.  What  types  of  work  are  offered  in  the  modern  business  college  ? 
How  do  numbers  in  evening  courses  compare  with  nxmabers  in 
day  courses  in  the  modem  business  college  ? 

10.  What  courses  are  offered  in  the  modern  business  college  ?  How 
does  the  enrolment  compare  in  each?  What  ones  show  the 
most  growth  in  recent  years  ? 

11.  From  a  study  of  the  charges  made  by  business  colleges,  what 
would  you  say  is  the  principle  that  underlies  their  rates?  Are 
the  charges  fairly  uniform?  How  would  you  account  for  the 
variations  ?  How  do  charges  vary  for  different  types  of  courses  ? 
What  is  your  judgment  of  the  fairness  of  these  charges  ? 

12.  How  might  registration  by  the  State  Board  of  Education  of 
certain  business  collegec  as  "approved"  tend  to  raise  the  stand- 
ards of  this  type  of  education  ?  What  is  the  weakness  of  this  form 
of  control?  What  are  Miss  Stevens'  ideas  of  what  is  needed 
"to  make  private  schools  safe"  ?     Comment  on  each  of  them. 

13.  What  is  the  National  Association  of  Accredited  Commercial 
Schools?  What  advantages  might  accrue  to  a  school  from  joining 
this  Association  ?  What  steps  has  this  organization  apparently 
taken  to  improve  the  standards  of  the  private  commercial  school  ? 

14.  Will  the  forces  which  Moser  believes  have  brought  about  "the 
modern  business  college"  destroy  the  undesirable  ones  and  com- 
pel high  standards  from  those  that  survive  ? 

15.  Would  you  favor  a  law  forbidding  business  colleges  to  register 
students  who  were  not  eighth-grade  graduates?  High-school 
graduates  ? 

16.  What  seems  to  you  the  r61e  or  place  of  the  business  college  in  a 
planned  scheme  of  education  for  business  ? 


CHAPTER  XII 

PRIVATE  COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  COMMERCE 
AND  CORRESPONDENCE  SCHOOLS 

In  general,  private  business  schools  other  than  the  business 
college  are  of  two  classes:  the  correspondence  school  and  the 
private  school  which  offers  business  training  of  a  more  or  less 
advanced  character.  The  second  of  these  has  been,  perhaps 
entirely,  an  outgrowth  of  the  collegiate  school  of  business 
movement.  Individuals  have  set  up  schools  to  imitate  the  work 
done  by  collegiate  schools  of  business  and  have  offered  in  many 
cases  a  semblance  and,  in  some  instances  probably,  a  reality  of 
collegiate  business  training. 

Semi-charitable  organizations  such  as  the  Y.M.C.A.  have 
reached  into  this  field.  They  have  not  limited  their  activities 
to  college  type  of  training,  but  have  offered  business  training 
of  almost  every  grade  and  kind.  In  many  ways  these  schools 
are  quite  comparable  to  the  better  type  of  private  school,  and 
one  example,  Y.M.C.A.  schools,  therefore,  will  be  given  some 
attention  here  as  an  illustration  of  this  form  of  school  in  general. 

The  correspondence  school  is  an  older  institution  and  had 
developed  in  one  or  two  cases  a  fairly  advanced  form  of  training 
for  business  before  the  collegiate  school  of  business  movement 
came  into  full  flower.  On  the  other  hand,  once  the  collegiate 
school  of  business  did  develop,  the  growth  of  correspondence 
schools  was  stimulated  by  the  opening  of  this  new  field  of 
education  and  the  organization  of  new  material  through  the 
energy  of  the  universities. 

Although  no  attempt  will  be  made  in  this  chapter  to  make 
an  exhaustive  treatment  either  of  private  business  schools  or 
of  correspondence  schools,  enough  data  will  be  presented  to 
give  the  reader  a  picture  of  these  institutions  and  a  basis  for 
judgment  in  attempting  to  place  them  in  a  specialized  scheme 
of  education. 

314 


COMMERCE  AND  CORRESPONDENCE  SCHOOLS         315 
ORIGIN   OF   Y.M.C.A.   EDUCATION 

As  recently  as  1909  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education 
made  an  investigation  of  the  work  of  the  Y.M.C.A.  in  the  educa- 
tional field  :^ 

At  the  time  when  the  first  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations 
in  North  America  were  organized  in  1851,  at  Montreal  and  Boston, 
there  appears  to  have  been  httle  thought  of  including  a  definite 
educational  program  in  the  work  of  these  associations. 

In  1889,  the  International  Convention,  for  the  first  time,  indorsed 
educational  work  as  a  function  of  the  association.  The  subject  had 
also  been  discussed  for  several  years  previously  at  state  conventions. 
In  1893,  the  International  Conunittee  established  a  department  of 
education  with  George  B.  Hodge  as  senior  secretary.  This  depart- 
ment was  made  responsible  for  the  studying  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  work  and  for  gathering  data  from  the  various  associ- 
ations on  which  suggestions  for  development  could  be  made. 

In  1900  there  began  a  period  of  expansion  and  extension.  In- 
stead of  the  class  work  being  limited  to  the  winter  time,  such  instruc- 
tion was  continued  throughout  the  spring.  Day  work  was  also  intro- 
duced, and  siunmer  schools  for  boys  were  organized  to  supplement 
the  work  of  the  public  schools.  Special  schools,  such  as  automobile, 
salesmanship,  advertising,  insurance,  real  estate,  textile  designing, 
plumbing,  fruit  culture,  and  many  others  were  established.  The 
educational  program  of  the  association  was  also  extended  into  fields 
outside  the  building. 

There  was  a  steady  increase  in  the  nmnber  of  associations  employ- 
ing educational  secretaries.  To  some  extent,  supervision  from  state 
committees  was  inaugurated.  Higher  standards  of  instruction  were 
established.  The  years  from  1900  to  191 5  witnessed  a  remarkable 
growth  of  the  association  educational  work,  as  exhibited  by  the 
statistical  data  shown  on  page  316. 

Since  1916,  the  educational  work  of  the  associations  has  continued 
along  lines  that  have  become  recognized  as  standard. 

The  particular  function  of  the  association,  through  its  educational 
service,  has  been  to  furnish  and  to  make  easily  accessible  to  men  and 
boys,  mainly  those  in  industry,  such  courses  of  instruction  as  would 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  William  Orr,  senior  educational  secretary 
of  the  International  Committee,  Edticational  Work  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations,  igi6-igi8,  pp.  3-6.  U.S.  Bureau  of  Education, 
Bulletin  No.  53,  1919. 


3i6 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


enable  them  to  become  better  citizens  and  workmen.  It  is  significant 
that  even  at  the  very  outset  of  the  educational  work,  this  purpose 
appears  in  the  courses  in  ancient  languages  intended  to  aid  men  pre- 
paring for  the  ministry.  While  such  subjects  as  these  no  longer 
appear  in  the  programs  of  instruction,  the  vocational  aim  has  con- 
tinued to  dominate. 

TABLE  XXIX 


Number  of  lectures  and  talks 

Educational  club  members 

Number  of  associations  with  educational  secretaries 

Number  of  paid  teachers 

Total  different  students,  day  and  evening 

Number  of  international  certificates  won 

Students  in  association  day  courses 

Students  outside  building 

Expense  of  advertising 

Tuition  receipts 


IQOI 


IQIS 


3,041 

14,819 

4,618 

26,700 

21 

84 

901 

2,592 

26,906 

83,771 

1,532 

2,240 

560 

8,031 

350 

22,653 

$12,607 

$81,772 

$48,000 

$814,024 

In  business  education,  especially,  has  the  Y.M.C.A.  de- 
veloped of  recent  years,  and  in  the  larger  cities  it  now  offers 
a  course  quite  comparable  to  that  of  many  collegiate  schools  of 
business.  The  work  of  such  a  school  in  the  business  educational 
scheme  is  thus  described  by  the  Chicago  director.* 

The  national  headquarters  of  the  United  Y.M.C.A.  Schools, 
representing  a  federation  of  the  local  Y.M.C.A.  Schools,  announced  a 
total  enrollment  for  the  school  year  1920-21  of  over  120,000  students 
in  day  and  evening  classes  and  over  20,000  students  in  extension 
or  home  study  courses.  Of  this  number  it  is  estimated  that  50  per 
cent  of  these  students  were  enrolled  in  business  courses  of  various  kinds. 

In  the  development  of  the  program  of  strictly  business  education 
most  of  the  Y.M.C.A.  Schools  have  followed  the  usual  classification 
of  secondary  and  collegiate  grade  courses.  In  the  secondary  field 
an  attempt  has  been  made  to  design  courses  especially  to  fit  the  needs 
of  boys  and  young  men  which  is  in  contrast  with  the  business  courses 
in  most  of  our  high  schools  and  business  colleges  which  have  been 
adapted  to  a  considerable  degree  to  the  needs  of  young  women. 

In  the  field  of  collegiate  business  education  the  trend  has  been 
toward  the  development  of  standard  Schools  of  Commerce  of  recog- 

» A  statement  prepared  by  H.  C.  Daines,  director,  Central  Y.M.C.A. 
Schools,  Chicago,  May,  1922. 


COMMERCE  AND  CORRESPONDENCE  SCHOOLS        317 

nized  standing.  The  courses  which  have  been  offered  have  been 
announced  to  meet  the  general  and  specialized  needs  of  the  employed 
man.  While  the  courses  have  been  designed  on  the  assumption 
that  a  man  has  had  at  least  a  high  school  education,  registration  has 
been  open  to  mature  business  men,  not  high  school  graduates,  who 
show  evidence  of  being  able  to  profitably  pursue  the  course.  This  is 
in  accordance  with  the  precedent  of  well  established  universities. 

A  program  of  business  education  approved  by  the  Board  of 
Governors  of  the  United  Y.M.C.A.  Schools  provides  for  the  develop- 
ment of  five  four-year  standard  curricula  in  Production,-  Accountancy, 
Banking  and  Finance,  Marketing,  and  Business  Administration. 
Special  commissions  have  been  working  on  each  of  these  curricula 
and  many  of  the  Schools  of  Commerce  in  our  larger  cities  have  very 
elaborate  courses  of  study  set  up  paralleling  that  of  the  well  estab- 
hshed  evening  university  schools  of  commerce.  Two  year  certificate 
courses  are  offered  in  Real  Estate,  Credit  Management,  Foreign 
Trade,  Employment  Management,  Insurance,  Traffic  Management, 
and  Purchasing. 

These  various  curricula  are  made  up  of  one  semester  and  two 
semester  unit  courses  which  may  be  entered  by  men  who  are  unable 
to  take  the  more  complete  courses.  Many  of  our  Schools  of  Com- 
merce are  granting  the  degrees  of  Bachelor  of  Commercial  Science 
and  Master  of  Commercial  Science.  Some  of  these  schools  have 
distinctive  university  and  collegiate  names.  The  aim  in  all  of  these 
schools  is  to  ofifer  exceptionally  practical  training  adapted  to  the  need 
of  the  employed  man.  Many  of  the  instructors  in  these  schools  are 
prominent  business  men  who  are  willing  to  teach  one  or  two  evenings 
a  week  but  who  could  not  be  induced  to  accept  a  regular  full  time 
teaching  position  in  a  university. 

Through  the  headquarters  of  the  United  Y.M.C.A.  Schools  in 
New  York  City  a  number  of  texts  have  been  published  especially 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  mature  student  and  to  night  school  meth- 
ods of  instruction. 

CORRESPONDENCE   SCHOOLS 

The  beginnings  of  correspondence  schools,  and  something  of 
the  relation  between  the  correspondence-school  movement  and 
the  universities,  are  well  stated  in  the  following  paragraphs:^ 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  Frank  H.  Palmer,  "Correspondence 
Schools,"  Education,  XXXI  (September,  1910),  47-48.  The  Palmer  Com- 
pany, Publishers. 


3i8  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Instruction  by  correspondence  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  university 
extension  movement  which  originated  in  England  in  1868.  Societies 
were  formed  in  that  country  for  the  encouragement  of  home  study, 
and  plans  or  outlines  were  prepared  to  guide  the  reading  of  those  who 
became  interested.  In  1873  the  idea  crossed  the  water  and  a  similar 
society  was  formed  in  Boston  which  added  correspondence  with  its 
members  as  an  integral  part  of  its  plan.  Ten  years  later  a  "  Corre- 
spondence University"  was  formed  in  New  York  state  with  head- 
quarters at  Ithaca,  with  a  board  of  instructors  from  different  colleges 
and  universities.  It  offered  at  low  cost  helpful  instruction  by  corre- 
spondence to  such  persons  as  could  not  leave  their  homes  for  attendance 
at  established  institutions  of  learning.  The  Chautauqua  movement 
soon  followed  and  became  veiy  popular  throughout  the  country. 
The  late  Dr.  WilHam  R.  Harper,  on  assuming  the  presidency  of  the 
University  of  Chicago  at  its  establishment  in  1892,  endorsed  the 
method  and  made  it  a  part  of  the  work  of  the  University  as  a  Cor- 
respondence Division  of  the  University  Extension  Department. 
From  the  first  the  movement  has  had  the  co-operation  and  support 
of  the  colleges  and  universities,  many  of  the  professors  in  which  have 
been  the  instructors  in  the  various  courses  offered  by  the  correspond- 
ence schools.  There  are  said  to  be  now  over  two  hundred  such 
schools  in  the  United  States.  One  of  the  largest  of  these,  the  Inter- 
national Correspondence  Schools  of  Scran  ton,  Penn.,  claims  to  have 
enrolled  in  the  twenty  years  of  its  existence  1,281,800  names.  It  has 
about  five  hundred  instructors  and  furnishes  instruction  in  203 
subjects. 

The  modern  correspondence  school. — The  modern  corre- 
spondence school  is  a  thing  of  almost  infinite  variety.  A  de- 
scription of  its  varied  forms,  as  well  as  an  attempt  to  classify 
the  various  forms,  has  thus  been  made:^ 

The  courses  [of  modem  correspondence  schools]  cover  nearly 
every  known  human  activity  ranging  from  raising  poultry  to  training 
engineers.  They  include  instruction  in  accounting,  law,  electrical 
engineering,  meter  engineering,  signal  engineering,  wireless  operating, 
automobile  driving  and  repairing,  lettering  and  designing,  drawing 
and  cartooning,  drafting,  advertising  and  selling,  pubUc-speaking, 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  Lee  Galloway,  "  Correspondence  School 
Instruction  by  Non- Academic  Institutions,"  Annals  of  the  American  Acad- 
emy,  LXVII  (September,  1916,  New  Possibilities  in  Education),  pp.  202-9. 


COMMERCE  AND  CORRESPONDENCE  SCHOOLS         319 

watch  repairing,  executive  management,  English  and  even  ventrilo- 
quism. A  person  may  be  made  into  a  trafl&c  inspector,  a  detective 
or  a  musician — all  by  mail. 

EXTENT   OF  INFLUENCE 

The  best  measure  of  the  influence  of  these  schools  is  the  number 
of  students  enrolled  and  the  amount  of  money  spent  in  preparing 
the  courses  of  instruction  as  well  as  in  advertising  them.  One  school 
offering  four  main  courses — accounting,  law,  traffic  management  and 
business  administration — has  enrolled  90,000  students.  A  cor- 
respondence law  school  has  put  40,000  enrollments  upon  its  records 
within  the  last  five  years,  while  another  school  offering  a  general 
business  course  for  executives  has  enrolled  over  40,000  within 
approximately  the  same  time.  Even  those  schools  which  appeal 
to  the  narrower  fields  of  highly  specialized  activities  such  as  music, 
credits  and  collections  and  so  on,  show  a  wide  influence.  Over 
260,000  persons  have  received  instruction  from  one  school  teaching 
music  by  mail  since  its  establishment  twenty  years  ago,  while  the 
active  list  that  follows  the  weekly  lessons  never  falls  below  10,000 
students. 

In  the  same  length  of  time,  a  school  of  design  and  lettering  has 
enrolled  9,455  students,  and  a  correspondence  collection  school  has 
enrolled  7,236  in  about  ten  years.  Even  a  highly  specialized  field, 
that  of  investments,  has  enabled  one  school  to  keep  up  an  average 
yearly  enrollment  of  120.  Within  the  first  five  years  of  its  history 
the  Alexander  Hamilton  Institute  enrolled  over  40,000  men  whose 
average  age  is  thirty-two  years  and  whose  average  income  is  over 
$2,700  a  year. 

VARIETIES  OF  CORRESPONDENCE   SCHOOLS 

Classified  according  to  the  nature  of  instruction  offered,  corre- 
spondence schools  fall  into  three  groups: 

1.  Schools  offering  general  training  in  fundamental  subjects  such 
as  the  Home  Correspondence  School. 

2.  Schools  offering  specialized  technical  training,  such  as  the 
Blackstone  Institute  for  law.  Pace  and  Pace  for  accounting  and  the 
American  Collection  Service. 

3.  Schools  offering  general  commercial  training,  such  as  the 
Alexander  Hamilton  Institute,  the  American  School  of  Correspond- 
ence and  the  La  Salle  Institute. 


320  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Perhaps  a  more  significant  classification  is  one  based  on  the 
character  of  the  ownership  and  control.  Here  again  we  find  three 
types  as  follows: 

1.  Public  correspondence  schools — those  connected  with  uni- 
versities (Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Chicago). 

2.  Private — such  as  described  above. 

3.  Quasi-public — such  as  the  National  Commercial  Gas  Associ- 
ation and  the  American  Institute  of  Banking. 

The  text  and  lesson  material  varies  from  school  to  school.  The 
larger  and  more  prominent  ones  put  out  texts  of  real  educational 
merit.  They  differ  from  the  regular  school  or  college  texts  in  that 
the  diction  is  extremely  simple,  explanations  are  very  elaborate  and 
truisms  are  never  omitted. 

Can  an  institution  which  is  in  the  field  for  profit  be  relied  upon 
to  give  proper  attention  to  those  phases  of  education  which  do  not 
yield  a  profit  in  dollars  and  cents  ? 

Good  business  policy  demands  that  the  interests  of  the  consumer 
stand  first.  In  the  case  of  the  correspondence  schools  a  violation  of 
this  principle  has  brought  about  more  than  one  recent  failure  just 
as  it  did  in  the  case  of  many  large  merchandizing  establishments  of 
recent  memory.  It  is  not  a  question  of  inherent  differences  between 
the  commercial  and  educational  elements  in  the  composition  of  a 
correspondence  school,  but  the  universal  problem  which  faces  every 
enterprise — the  problem  of  deciding  between  the  long  run  and  the 
short  run  policies  of  a  business.  There  is  plenty  of  internal  evidence 
both  in  the  material  of  instruction  and  in  the  organization  of  the 
better  schools  to  prove  that  the  commercial  character  of  the  work 
does  not  necessarily  interfere  with  a  broad  and  liberal  treatment  of 
the  subjects. 

However,  one  phase  of  correspondence  school  activities  shows  a 
tardy  development.  This  is  an  element  which  creeps  into  the  adver- 
tising of  even  the  best  schools.  An  examination  of  the  advertisements 
and  circular  letters  reveals  many  objectionable  features.  They 
bristle  with  special  scholarships,  reduced  prices  for  limited  periods, 
free  offers  and  the  like.  It  is  not  that  the  schools  play  up  their  best 
and  strongest  features  but  the  fact  that  they  use  the  quack 's  methods 
of  appealing  to  men's  weaknesses  rather  than  to  their  strength  and 
that  their  innumerable  special  offers  of  scholarships,  reduced  prices, 
etc.,  are  as  a  matter  of  fact  practically  perpetual  in  one  form  or 
another. 


COMMERCE  AND  CORRESPONDENCE  SCHOOLS        321 

A  correspondence  school  need  not  be  tied  to  an  academic  institu- 
tion in  order  to  be  endowed  with  high  ideals,  pure  motives  and  pro- 
fessional methods,  but  there  is  still  a  strong  prejudice  against  these 
institutions  which  is  based  on  the  practices  of  the  weak  and  fraudu- 
lent schools  which  deliberately  cater  to  the  delusions  of  the  simple- 
minded  and  by  misleading  advertisements  exploit  the  gullible  public. 
Correspondence  schools  like  the  common  public  schools  will  grow  in 
number  and  influence  as  the  demand,  not  only  for  popular  education, 
increases,  but  also  for  a  continuous  education  which  lasts  far  beyond 
the  ''school  days"  of  the  active  man  whether  he  be  mechanic,  profes- 
sional or  business  man. 

Appraisals  of  the  correspondence  school. — The  correspondence 
school,  at  least  the  privately  managed  one,  has  its  friends  and 
its  foes.  There  are,  as  well,  those  persons  who  believe  that 
many  of  the  correspondence  schools  are  doing  a  useful  work, 
believing  at  the  same  time  that  many  are  guilty  of  every  type 
of  malpractice  and  bad  advertising  conceivable.  The  more  pes- 
simistic attitude  toward  the  performance  of  the  private  cor- 
respondence school  is  thus  expressed.^ 

Though  a  great  deal  of  incidental  good  is  done  in  furnishing 
instruction  to  ambitious  young  men,  the  private  correspondence 
schools  constitute,  in  the  main,  a  vicious  and  inefficient  system  of 
education  for  the  following  reasons: 

(i)  Many  of  them  are  fraudulent.  It  is  difficult  for  the  post- 
office  authorities  to  detect  whether  or  not  a  concern  is  doing  a  legiti- 
mate business.  By  liberal  advertising,  it  is  possible  for  a  company 
to  reap  a  harvest  before  a  fraud  order  can  be  issued.  It  is  possible, 
moreover,  for  a  concern  to  stay  within  the  letter  of  the  law  and  yet 
exploit  its  patrons. 

(2)  The  degree  of  efficiency,  even  among  the  technically  honest 
firms,  is  not  high.  A  staff  of  iU-paid  clerks  is  generally  employed  at 
answering  letters  and  replying  to  questions.  Even  though  the  work 
is  standardized,  these  people  cannot  furnish  complete  and  accurate 
information  or  high-grade  instruction. 

(3)  The  charges  for  tuition  are  too  high.  The  fees  per  course 
vary  from  $20  upwards,  the  average  charge  by  the  International 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  Paul  H.  Douglas,  American  Apprentice- 
ship and  Industrial  Education,  pp.  2410,  New  York:  T.ongmans,  Green 
&  Co.,  1921. 


322  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Correspondence  Schools  being  $75.  This  constitutes  a  severe  drain 
upon  a  poor  man 's  resources,  and  their  collection  is  only  possible  be- 
cause they  are  paid  in  installments  rather  than  in  a  lump  sum.  Were 
the  tuition  fees  actually  invested  in  the  educational  side  of  the 
business,  no  complaint  could  of  course  be  made,  but  such  is  not  the 
case. 

(4)  An  enormous  amount  is  wasted  m  competitive  advertising 
and  canvassing.  Most  of  the  expenses  of  a  modem  correspondence 
school  are  indeed  m  the  sales  and  not  in  the  educational  department. 
One  large  school  claiming  an  enrollment  of  350,000  pupils  had  twenty 
branch  offices  each  with  its  quota  of  salesmen  and  employed  in  all 
over  2,500  people.  Only  370  of  these  were,  however,  connected  with 
the  educational  work  I  Fifteen  per  cent  of  the  force  was  devoted  to 
the  actual  instruction  itself,  while  85  was  employed  in  the  administra- 
tion and  sales  side  of  the  business.  This  indicates  a  shocking  dispro- 
portion of  energy  and  resources,  and  is  one  that  would  not  exist 
under  a  publicly  operated  system  with  the  wastes  of  competition 
eliminated. 

(5)  A  further  criticism  of  private  correspondence  schools  is  that 
only  a  small  percentage  ever  finish  the  courses  that  they  begin. 
Veiled  in  secrecy  as  the  records  are,  only  estimates  are  possible. 
The  Minnesota  Department  of  Labor  Statistics  found  that  less  than 
one-third  of  those  who  began  courses  in  Minneapolis,  finished  them. 
The  percentage,  for  the  country,  as  a  whole,  of  those  who  complete 
their  course  is  probably  even  less.  The  Canadian  Commission  on 
Technical  Education  declared  it  to  be  as  low  as  5  or  10  per  cent. 

(6)  Finally,  correspondence  school  courses,  even  at  their  best, 
are  a  decidedly  unsatisfactory  means  of  education  and  should  be  used 
only  as  alast  resort.  The  instruction  lacks  personal  touch,  there  is 
an  inevitable  delay  in  replying  to  questions  which  is  generally  at  least 
as  long  as  a  week,  and  sometimes  a  fortnight  or  a  month.  This  robs 
the  study  of  much  of  its  interest  and  the  student  soon  loses  heart 
and  generally  drops  out.  These  schools  cannot  be  called  a  solution, 
in  any  real  sense,  of  the  problem  of  industrial  education. 

The  huge  numbers  who  have  sought  further  technical  education 
at  their  hands  is,  however,  adequate  proof  of  the  fact  that  the  present 
educational  system  of  the  country  has  failed  to  meet  the  need  of  the 
times.  Because  of  the  lack  of  a  better  system,  men  have  turned  to 
privately  managed  schools  both  at  long  and  short  range  to  secure 
the  training  that  they  have  needed. 


COMMERCE  AND  CORRESPONDENCE  SCHOOLS        323 

A  more  optimistic  view  of  the  performance,  as  well  as  the 
possibilities  of  the  correspondence  school,  is  the  following  state- 
ment of  Mr.  A.  M.  Simons/ 

The  most  prominent  characteristic  of  correspondence  school 
work,  to  the  outsider  at  least  and  especially  to  the  person  who  has 
been  accustomed  to  the  atmosphere  of  the  conventional  school,  is  its 
frank,  commercial  outlook. 

A  correspondence  school  teaches  to  make  money.  This  fact 
carries  with  it  a  large  number  of  handicaps,  as  its  managers  are 
continuously  reminded.  It  has  some  advantages,  however.  Its 
appeal  speaks  a  language  that  is  understood  in  every  field  of  industry. 
The  person  who  has  had  a  long  experience  in  business  grows  suspicious 
of  anyone  who  wishes  to  do  anything  for  him  for  nothing.  He  always 
fears  that  before  they  have  finished,  they  are  not  only  going  to  ''do 
him  good,"  but  also  ''plenty."  When  the  correspondence  school 
makes  its  appeal  on  the  ground  that  it  can  make  money  by  teaching 
someone  else  how  to  increase  his  income,  it  is  speaking  the  most 
familiar  language  in  the  business  world  today. 

It  gets  its  students  by  familiar  business  methods.  The  fact  that 
it  spends  a  large  percentage  of  the  money  received  from  a  student 
in  advertising,  is  urged  as  proof  that  its  methods  are  wasteful.  The 
defenders  of  advertising  have  long  ago  furnished  with  it  a  reply  which 
it  seems  is  more  justifiable  as  applying  to  the  correspondence  school 
than  to  almost  any  other  field. 

The  sums  spent  in  advertising  education  are,  in  part  at  least, 
spent  in  educating  people  to  the  need  of  education.  Selling  education 
to  the  general  public  is  not  an  easy  task.  Teaching  a  person  that  he 
needs  a  certain  line  of  training  may  be  as  essential  a  part  of  his 
education  as  the  training  which  he  purchases,  and  there  is  certainly 
some  justice  in  making  the  student  pay  for  his  education  all  along 
the  line. 

When  the  correspondence  school  enters  the  field  of  business,  it 
has  certain  peculiar  advantages  in  competing  for  the  favor  of  those 
seeking  education.  Whether  these  advantages  are  all  desirable  or 
not,  I  shall  not  argue,  because  I  am  not  either  defending,  indicting, 
or  praising  correspondence  schools,  but  only  describing  the  reasons 
why,  in  a  nation  filled  with  free  educational  institutions,  they  are  able 

^  A  statement  prepared  by  A.  M.  Simons,  director  of  Foremanship 
Training,  American  School,  April,  1922. 


324  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

to  find  a  place  and  secure  the  patronage  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  the  brightest  young  people  in  industry. 

The  correspondence  school  has  few  or  no  traditions.  •  There  are 
some  who  would  say  it  has  no  standards.  But  many  times  it  will 
be  found  that  the  same  thing  is  meant  in  both  cases,  and  the  indict- 
ment is  not  so  strong  as  it  sounds. 

The  residence  school,  especially  if  supported  by  public  money, 
by  endowments,  or  through  public  solicitation  of  funds,  must  main- 
tain scholastic  traditions  often  running  back  through  centuries.  It 
cannot  afford  to  experiment.     It  must  always  think  of  its  traditions. 

Now  business,  and  especially  mechanical  industry,  is  a  field  in 
which  the  greatest  rewards  frequently  go  to  those  most  willing  and 
able  to  break  traditions.  Industry  grows  by  discovery,  invention, 
and  the  hunting  out  of  new  ways  to  do  things. 

The  correspondence  school  can  keep  pace  with  this.  If  a  new 
occupation,  like  employment  management,  wireless  operation,  or 
automobile  construction  appears,  it  can  at  once  adjust  its  curricidum 
to  meet  the  emergency.  For,  while  it  is  constantly  trying  to  sell 
education  to  new  customers,  it  is  equally  diligent  to  find  out  what 
those  customers  want.  It  can  move  into  a  new  field  instantly.  Its 
test  of  whether  the  new  field  is  educationally  desirable  (it  must  be 
frankly  admitted)  is  the  business  test:  "does  it  pay?"  Are  there 
enough  persons  who  desire  training  in  the  new  field  to  support  the 
educational  facilities  ?  It  can  expand  instantly  to  meet  a  new  demand 
and  contract  its  forces  almost  as  quickly. 

The  correspondence  school  is  always  in  session.  It  is  ready  to 
offer  faciHties  whenever  a  period  of  idleness,  a  sudden  impulse  and  de- 
sire for  change,  a  hope  of  promotion,  or  any  of  the  other  multitude  of 
motives  that  impel  people  in  the  industrial  world  to  seek  an  education, 
chance  to  arise  in  the  individual.  It  fits  into  odd  spells,  into  vacant 
places  in  educational  equipment,  into  all  ordinary  relations  of  life, 
without  seriously  disturbing  any  of  them.  It  is  especially  suitable 
to  the  industrial  worker,  in  that  it  adjusts  itself  to  his  existing  knowl- 
edge and  methods  of  education.  He  has  learned  something  by 
experience  on  the  job.  He  is  learning  more  as  he  works.  He  has, 
perhaps,  developed  trade  skills  to  a  high  degree,  but  he  is  still  lacking 
in  the  intellectual  background  and  wider  relations  which  are  coming 
more  and  more  to  be  considered  as  essential  to  promotion.  The 
correspondence  school  comes  forward  supplementing  all  of  his  existing 
knowledge  and  duplicating  none  of  it,  since  he  is  perfectly  at  liberty 


COMMERCE  AND  CORRESPONDENCE  SCHOOLS        325 

to  move  as  swiftly  as  he  wishes  over  that  which  he  already  knows  and 
to  dally  as  long  as  he  pleases  over  the  portions  which  suit  his  purposes. 

A  further  reason  of  great  importance,  which  is  seldom  realized,  is 
the  privacy  furnished.  Most  of  the  students  of  correspondence 
schools  are  adults,  or  approaching  that  stage.  They  are  usually 
seeking  to  fill  in  a  gap  in  their  knowledge  which  they  have  only  dis- 
covered when  confronted  with  its  need.  Frequently  the  discovery  of 
this  gap  by  someone  else  might  cost  them  financial  loss  and  personal 
discomfort.  To  attend  a  residence  school  is  to  confess  their  ignorance 
and  to  advertise  it,  perhaps,  to  the  very  people  from  whom  they  wish 
to  conceal  it. 

A  great  many  preachers  and  grade  school  principals  are  taking 
a  high  school  course  with  a  school  with  which  I  am  familiar.  The 
preacher  naturally  feels  that  if  his  congregation  knew  that  he  were 
taking  such  a  course,  their  respect  for  him  would  fall.  He  may  be  mis- 
taken, and  if  right  the  congregation  may  be  blamed,  but  he  prefers 
to  acquire  the  knowledge  quietly  rather  than  test  their  opinion. 

The  teacher  who  is  keeping  ahead  of  his  class  by  correspondence 
work  has  the  same  feeling  in  an  even  more  intensive  degree. 

In  industry  perhaps  the  most  frequent  reason  for  taking  a  corre- 
spondence course  is  to  be  in  line  for  promotion  to  some  position  already 
fixed  upon.  It  requires  very  little  knowledge  of  office  politics  to 
know  that  there  are  plenty  of  instances  in  which,  if  a  superior  knew 
that  a  subordinate  had  picked  upon  the  very  job  held  by  the  said 
superior,  there  would  be  trouble. 

Of  course,  these  things  may  aU  be  wrong,  but  I  think  no  one  will 
deny  that  they  exist  and  are  a  part  of  the  things  that  must  be  con- 
sidered in  planning  a  practical  educational  program. 

It  is  indeed  difficult  to  assign  a  place  to  the  correspondence 
school  alongside  of  a  group  of  other  specialized  institutions,  each 
striving  to  do  its  part  in  a  program.  If  all  of  the  other  institu- 
tions now  in  existence  did  their  job  thoroughly,  the  correspond- 
ence school  would  probably  have  little  place.  Its  success  is  rather 
the  outgrowth  of  the  defects  and  limitations  of  the  public 
and  private  educational  system.  Its  greatest  usefulness  is  to 
fit  into  those  chinks  left  in  the  building  done  by  other  institu- 
tions. Add  to  the  fact  that  its  infinite  variety  of  offerings  make 
possible  some  filling  for  almost  any  chink,  the  fact  that  the  fiUing 
can  be  done  at  almost  any  time,  and  there  is  much  to  be  said 


326  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

for  the  usefulness  of  the  honest  and  well-managed  correspond- 
ence school. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  in  the  correspondence-school 
situation  every  possibihty  for  exploitation  which  is  to  be  found 
in  the  position  of  the  private  business  college.  It  has  in  it  all 
of  those  possibilities,  aggravated  by  the  fact  that  it  deals 
impersonally  and  at  long  range,  and  with  many  who  are  less 
informed  even  than  the  youthful  clients  of  the  business  college. 

There  seems  no  doubt  that  the  sale  of  education  is  a  proper 
field  for  an  increased  amount  of  pubHc  regulation.  Unregulated 
exchange  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  the  parties  deal  on 
something  approximating  equality.  In  the  sale  of  education, 
however,  there  is,  in  the  very  essence  of  the  situation,  a  frank 
admission  that  there  is  no  such  parity.  One  is  informed,  the 
other  is  uninformed,  and  few  situations  can  give  a  greater  oppor- 
tunity for  exploitation  than  this.  In  the  circumstances  it  is 
quite  in  keeping  with  the  legal  theory  of  fiduciary  relationships 
to  throw  upon  correspondence  schools  and  other  private  educa- 
tional institutions  a  degree  of  responsibility  which  does  not  now 
exist  and  to  surround  them  with  an  amount  of  legal  regulation 
which  will  smother  those  taking  advantage  of  an  innocent 
patronage. 

QUESTIONS  FOR   DISCUSSION 

1.  The  business  college  has  its  counterpart  in  the  field  of  collegiate 
business  work.  Give  a  number  of  examples  of  private  schools 
which  illustrate  this  statement. 

2.  The  correspondence  schools  are  much  older  than  the  private  coi- 
legiate  school  of  business.     How  would  you  explain  this  fact  ? 

3.  In  very  few  instances,  perhaps  in  none,  have  business  colleges 
grown  into  private  business  schools  of  collegiate  grade.  How 
would  you  explain  this  fact  ? 

4.  The  Y.M.C.A.  school  of  commerce  may  be  stucfied  as  an  example 
of  the  private  school  of  business  of  coUegiate  grade.  In  what  ways 
is  this  illustration  satisfactory  ?    In  what  ways  unsatisfactory  ? 

5.  Private  business  schools  of  collegiate  grade  have  reason  to  keep 
their  courses  of  a  more  practical  and  a  more  immediately  useful 
nature  than  do  university  schools  of  business.    Why  is  this  true  ? 


COMMERCE  AND  CORRESPONDENCE  SCHOOLS        327 

6.  Private  collegiate  business  schools  have  the  double  problem  of 
developing  an  organized  curriculum  extending  over  a  period  of 
years,  and  also  of  planning  short  unit  courses.  What  object  have 
they  in  each  of  these  types  of  courses  ?  Give  an  example  of  each 
type  of  work. 

7.  Trace  briefly  the  history  of  correspondence  work.  What  criticisms 
or  comments  can  you  make  on  the  classification  of  the  correspond- 
ence schools  given  in  the  text  ?  Make  an  appraisal  of  each  of  the 
appraisals  of  the  correspondence  schools  given  in  the  text. 

8.  Is  there  a  justifiable  place  for  such  schools  as  that  illustrated  by 
the  Y.M.C.A.  school  of  commerce?  If  so,  make  out  a  statement 
or  series  of  statements  indicating  what  you  beHeve  that  place  to  be. 

9.  Is  there  a  place  in  business  education  for  the  correspondence 
school?  If  so,  work  out  a  statement  or  series  of  statements  of 
what  you  believe  to  be  the  place  of  such  schools. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL' 

A  corporation  school  is  a  school  operated  by  a  business 
enterprise  (usually  by  a  corporation)  to  train  people  for  its  own 
uses  and  as  a  part  of  its  business  operations.  There  is  little 
to  be  gained  by  attempting  to  relate  the  corporation  school 
to  medieval  apprenticeship  or  even  to  the  industrial  technical 
school  movement.  The  corporation  school  is  the  offspring  of 
large-scale  industry  and  concentrated  control  rather  than  of 
educational  forbears. 

It  appears  to  be  generally  believed  that  the  earliest  corpora- 
tion school  in  America  was  that  founded  by  the  R.  Hoe  Printing 
Press  Company  of  New  York  in  the  early  seventies.'  Not 
before  1905  did  the  movement  attain  any  swing,  but  since  that 
time  it  has  been  rapid  and  of  an  increasingly  substantial  charac- 
ter.3  The  corporation  school  movement  was  so  well  developed 
and  so  clearly  recognized  by  19 13  that  on  January  24  of  that 
year  the  representatives  of  forty-eight  establishments  maintain- 
ing corporation  schools  met  in  New  York  City  and  organized 
the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools.  By  vote  of 
the  Executive  Committee,  August  17,  1920,  the  name  of  the 
organization  was  changed  to  the  National  Association  of  Cor- 
poration Training.4    xhe  latest  Proceedings  available  (June, 

^  This  chapter  is  for  the  most  part  adapted  from  an  article  by  the 
author,  "The  Corporation  School  and  Its  Place  in  a  Scheme  of  Business 
Education,"  Journal  of  Political  Economy,  November,  1921.  The  chief 
sources  of  the  data  are  the  Proceedings  of  the  Annual  Conventions  and  the 
Bulletins  of  the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Training. 

2  The  opinion  that  the  first  apprenticeship  school  maintained  by  a 
business  corporation  was  that  established  by  the  Chaix  Printing  Company 
of  Paris,  in  1863,  is  expressed  by  A.  J.  Beatty  in  his  Corporation  Schools 
(Public  School  Publishing  Co.,  Bloomington,  111.,  1918),  pp.  42-43- 

3  No  doubt  some  of  the  impetus  given  by  the  war  will  prove  unlasting. 

4  Bulletin  of  the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Training,  September, 
1920,  p.  391.  The  National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools  has  recently 
been  succeeded  by  the  National  Personnel  Association. 

328 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  329 

192 1)  reports  131  Class  A  members.  The  year  preceding  there 
were  147  such  members.  Since  that  first  meeting  this  organiza- 
tion has  held  conventions  annually.  At  these  meetings  the 
various  problems  connected  with  corporation  schools  have  been 
discussed  at  length. 

The  purposes  of  this  association  are  set  forth  in  each  report 
of  the  annual  conventions  to  be  the  following:  (i)  to  develop  the 
efficiency  of  the  individual  employee;  (2)  to  increase  efficiency 
in  industry;  (3)  to  influence  courses  of  established  educational 
institutions  more  favorably  toward  industry. 

The  National  Association  of  Corporation  Training  has 
grown  in  size  with  succeeding  years,  has  organized  committees 
dealing  with  the  various  phases  of  corporation  school  work,  and 
has  made  the  varied  and  scattered  facts  concerning  corporation 
schools  of  the  United  States  fairly  available.  Monthly  bulletins 
are  issued  by  the  association  and  the  proceedings  of  its  annual 
conventions  are  published. 

t^  TYPES  OF  CORPORATION  SCHOOLS 

While  corporation  schools  differ  infinitely  in  detail  there  are 
six  definite  and  distinct  types  which  are  recognized  by  the  litera- 
ture of  the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Training. 
These  are:  (i)  special  training  schools,  (2)  trade  apprenticeship 
schools;  (3)  office- work  schools;  (4)  advertising,  selling,  and 
distribution  schools;  (5)  retail  salesmanship  schools;  (6)  schools 
for  unskilled  labor;  some  of  these  types  have  important  sub- 
divisions. Concerning  the  special  training  schools,  for  instance, 
the  National  Association's  committee,  which  undertook  a  clas- 
sification, reported:^  ^'' 

Each  school  has  an  individuality  which  reflects  the  individuality 
of  the  business  and  the  officials  controlling  it.  By  overlooking  minor 
details  of  organization  and  retaining  only  the  most  general  character- 

*  The  classification  and  illustrations  of  special  training  schools  which 
follow  are  collected  and  adapted  from  the  Proceedings  of  the  Fourth  Annual 
Convention  of  the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools,  pp.  88-128. 
In  many  cases,  as  in  the  quotation,  the  exact  phrasing  of  the  report  is  used. 
The  names  of  firms  listed  as  using  one  or  another  of  the  types  of  training 
courses  are  taken  from  the  same  sources. 


330  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

istics  as  the  basis  of  classification  we  are  able  to  crowd  all  the  various 
special  training  schools  into  five  fairly  well  defined  groups  or  types 
of  schools. 

There  is  probably  no  single  school  which  can  be  said  to  fit 
perfectly  into  the  group  to  which  it  is  assigned.  Broadly 
speaking,  the  various  types  of  special  training  schools  may  be 
fairly  well  characterized  as  follows: 

Type  I.      Company  Business — Study  Courses  (non-productive) 
Plan  No.  I — For  new  employees 
Plan  No.  2 — For  old  employees 
Type  II.    Company  Business — Study  and  Practice  Courses  (partly 
productive) 
Plan  No.  3 — For  new  employees 
Plan  No.  4 — For  old  employees 
Type  III.  Company  Business—Work  Courses  (productive) 
Plan  No.  5 — For  new  employees 
Plan  No.  6 — For  old  employees 
Type  IV.   Company  Continuation  Schools 

Plan  No.  7 — ^Day  continuation  courses  (partly  produc- 
tive, partly  general  study  classes;  on  company  time; 
for  new  or  old  employees) 
Plan  No.  8 — Evening  continuation  courses  (general  and 
special  study  classes;  on  student's  time;  any  employee) 
Plan    No.    9 — Correspondence    continuation    courses 
(general  and  specific  subjects;  on  student's  time) 
Type  V.     Public  or  Private  Continuation  Schools — Co-operative 

Plan  No.  lo — Co-operative  plan  (part  work  and  part 
school  course) 

A.      TYPE  I.      COMPANY   BUSINESS — STUDY   COURSES 

The  distinguishing  feature  is  the  fact  that  the  student  em- 
ployee spends  all  of  his  time  in  studying,  not  being  expected  to 
do  any  productive  work  during  the  period  of  training.  It  is 
designed  to  get  definite  results  and  get  them  quickly. 

PLAN  NO.   I.      FOR  NEW   EMPLOYEES 

Purpose. — {a)  to  teach  specific  duties;  or  {h)  to  give  a  broad 
knowledge  of  the  business — that  is,  its  organization,  policies,  products, 
methods,  plant,  and  personnel. 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  331 

Characteristic  features. — Student's  time  entirely  non-productive; 
students  are  selected  by  the  company;  attendance  is  compulsory; 
attendance  is  on  company  time;  students  receive  pay  while  taking 
the  course;  length  of  course  comparatively  short,  usually  a  few  weeks; 
students  are  grouped  at  or  sent  to  the  most  convenient  place  for 
instruction;  small  groups,  intensive  instruction. 

Sttdents. — Plan  is  adaptable  to  students  whose  previous  educa- 
tion varies  from  uncompleted  grammar  school  to  high  school,  technical 
school,  or  college,  or  their  equivalent. 

Educational  methods. — ^Definite  plan  and  outline  for  entire  course 
common. 

PLAN  NO.    2.      FOR   OLD   EMPLOYEES 

Purpose. — Usually  to  broaden  knowledge  of  a  business  as  a  whole. 
(Methods  similar  to  Plan  i.)  Among  other  companies  which  have 
sometime  reported  using  this  type  of  special  training  school  are: 
the  Addressograph  Company,  the  American  Steel  and  Wire  Com- 
pany, the  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company,  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  and  the  United  Cigar  Stores. 

B.      TYPE  II.      COMPANY  BUSINESS — STUDY  AND  PRACTICE 
COURSES 

In  this  type  of  training  there  is  less  emphasis  on  study  and 
more  on  experience  in  working  departments.  The  proportion 
varies  a  great  deal.  In  some  the  time  on  study-work  is  but  a 
small  percentage  of  the  total  time,  while  in  others  as  much  as 
half  is  spent  on  the  study  and  instruction  work.  The  student 
is  expected  to  do  some  productive  work,  which  is  a  factor  in  keep- 
ing down  the  cost  of  giving  the  training.  In  general,  these 
courses  are  longer  than  those  of  the  first  type.  The  ultimate 
purpose  is  properly  to  prepare  students  of  marked  ability  for 
responsible  positions  on  the  executive  or  technical  staff  of  the 
company. 

PLAN   NO.    3.   •  STUDY   AND   PRACTICE    COURSE — FOR   NEW    EMPLOYEES 

Purpose. — To  give  an  insight  into  a  business  as  a  whole. 

Students. — Under  this  plan  most  of  the  new  employees  are  college- 
trained  men,  or  men  of  equivalent  maturity  and  training,  selected 
because  of  their  capacity  for  accepting  responsibihty  after  they  have 
gotten  well  established  in  the  business. 


332  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Edttcational  methods. — Definite  plans  for  entire  course;  training 
department  shifts  men  to  give  a  variety  of  experience;  work  assign- 
ments chosen  on  account  of  their  value  as  experience;  talks  and 
conferences  with  instructors  and  company  officials;  specially  pre- 
pared work  scheduled  with  notes  relating  work  experience  with  study 
material. 

PLAN   NO.   4.      STUDY   AND   PRACTICE   COURSES — FOR   OLD 
EMPLOYEES     • 

[This  plan  varies  from  Plan  No.  3  primarily  in  the  fact  that  the 
employee's  fitness  for  certain  work  is  discovered  before  he  is  assigned 
to  the  training  course,  which  is  intended  as  an  aid  in  developing  the 
employee  for  more  responsible  work.  No  emphasis  is  placed  on 
previous  education — rather  on  previous  success  in  the  company's 
work.]  Among  other  companies  which  have  sometime  reported  using 
this  type  of  special  training  school  are:  the  American  Locomotive 
Company,  the  Burroughs  Adding  Machine  Company,  the  Common- 
wealth Edison  Company,  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company,  the  General 
Electric  Company,  and  the  Good}^ear  Tire  and  Rubber  Company. 

C.      TYPE   III.      COMPANY   BUSINESS — WORK  COURSES 

This  type  of  course  omits  practically  all  of  the  study  features 
of  Type  I  and  emphasizes  the  varied  work  feature  of  Type  IT. 
In  general,  the  training  covers  a  longer  time.  The  demands  of 
the  productive  work  are  the  controlling  factors. 

PLAN  NO.    5.      WORK  COURSES   FOR  NEW  EMPLOYTiES 

Purposes. — Opportunity  for  practical  experience;  to  maintain  a 
group  of  trained  men  from  which  some  may  be  selected  for  more 
responsible  work;  to  train  employees  for  more  versatihty  in  the 
company's  business. 

Characteristic  featwes. — ^Employees'  time  is  expected  to  be 
entirely  productive;  no  time  is  given  at  company's  expense  for  related 
instruction;  students  are  selected  by  the  company;  students'  work 
entirely  similar  to  other  employees;  students  are  assigned  to  several 
departments;  no  special  supervision  is  given;  student  may  continue 
indefinitely  in  a  department  if  the  production  needs  demand  it. 

Sttidents. — New  employees;  previous  education  varied. 

Edttcational  methods. — ^Variety  of  experience;  observation  of 
related  work. 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  333 

PLAN   NO.    6.      WORK   COURSES — FOK    OLD   EMPLOYEES 

[Essentially  the  same  as  Plan  No.  5,  except  for  modifications  to 
fit  the  needs  of  employees  who  have  already  had  some  experience. 
The  employee  may  return  to  the  work  which  he  was  doing  at  the  time 
of  entering  the  course,  or  be  used  as  an  aid  in  preparing  an  old  em- 
ployee for  a  new  position.]  Companies  which  have  sometime  reported 
using  this  type  of  special  training  include:  the  American  Optical 
Company,  the  Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  Railroad,  the  Cadillac 
Motor  Company,  the  Consolidated  Gas  and  Electric  Light  and  Power 
Company  of  Baltimore,  R.  R.  Donnelley  &  Sons,  the  Fore  River  Ship- 
building Company,  and  the  Norton  &  Norton  Grinding  Company. 

D.      TYPE   IV.      COMPANY     CONTINUATION     SCHOOLS — DAY, 
EVENING,   AND   CORRESPONDENCE 

This  type  of  school  is  marked  by  a  somewhat  broader 
educational  outlook  than  are  some  of  the  other  types,  providing 
that  a  very  considerable  share  of  the  student 's  time  be  given  to 
general  education  instead  of  confining  him  to  such  work  as 
promises^  greater  immediate  efficiency  in  a  particular  position. 

Accordingly,  we  find  classes  in  English,  mathematics,  his- 
tory, civics,  geography,  spelling,  hygiene,  typewriting,  short- 
hand, sewing,  and  dressmaking.  These  are  all  in  addition  to  a 
multitude  of  subjects  directly  connected  with  or  related  to 
specific  occupations,  such  as  engineering,  drafting,  machine 
operation,  printing,  office  work,  telephone  operation,  and  sales- 
manship. 

PLAN  NO.    7.      COMPANY  DAY  CONTINUATION  SCHOOLS 

Purposes. — ^To  aid  employees  to  fit  themselves  for  advancement; 
to  continue  their  general  education;  to  increase  interest  or  efficienc}^ 
in  present  work;   to  discover  employees  for  various  lines  of  work. 

Characteristic  features. — Students  are  not  selected  by  company; 
attendance  is  voluntary. 

Students. — Any  employee  who  meets  the  educational  require- 
ments for  the  particular  subject  or  grade  of  work. 

Educational  methods. — ^Day  classes  on  company  time;  or  day 
classes  part  on  company  and  part  on  employee's  time;  supervised  by 
company  educational  department  or  by  employees*  organization  of 
committee;  classes  meet  from  one  to  four  times  a  week;  courses  vary 


334  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

from  a  few  weeks  to  proj^xessive  assignments  covering  several  years; 
usually  held  on  company  premises;  company  usually  furnishes  all 
necessary  facilities. 

PLAN  NO.    8.      COMPANY   EVENING   CONTINUATION   SCHOOL 

[Similar  to  Plan  No.  7,  except  the  classes  are  generally  held  on 
employee's  time  with  no  pay  for  time  so  spent.  Courses  partly  self- 
supporting;  enrolment  fee  required  as  guarantee  of  good  faith.] 

PLAN  NO.    9.      COMPANY   CORRESPONDENCE   CONTINUATION 
SCHOOL 

[Similar  to  plans  No.  7  and  No.  8,  except  that  it  is  designed 
primarily  to  reach  by  correspondence  employees  who  for  one  reason 
or  another  cannot  be  reached  through  plans  No.  7  and  No.  8.  A  new- 
departure  in  this  field  is  the  organization  of  courses  by  associations  of 
employers  and  employees.]  A  list  of  companies  which  have  sometime 
reported  using  special  training  course,  Type  IV,  would  include: 
the  American  Bridge  Company,  the  American  Tobacco  Company 
the  Curtis  Publishing  Company,  the  International  Harvester  Com- 
pany, and  the  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Company. 

E.      TYPE  V.      PUBLIC  OR  PRIVATE  CONTINUATION  SCHOOLS — 
CO-OPERATIVE  PLAN 

PLAN  NO.    10.      PART   WORK — PART   SCHOOL   COURSE 

[This  type  is  similar  to  Type  II  (Study  and  Practice  plans),  except 
that  the  study  work  is  done  and  the  administration  of  the  plan  is 
carried  on  under  the  direction  of  public-school  authorities  instead  of 
within  the  company. 

As  these  features  put  this  class  of  school  in  the  realm  of  public 
education,  it  is  not  taken  up  here,  except  to  point  out  that  the  plan  is 
depended  upon  by  some  companies  to  take  care  of  the  special  educa- 
tional work  which  other  companies  are  doing  within  their  own 
organizations. 

The  expense  of  instructors  is  borne  by  the  public  while  the  com- 
pany pays  the  employee  for  the  time  spent  on  productive  work  and  in 
some  instances,  as  at  the  plant  of  Swift  &  Company,  in  Chicago, 
furnishes  a  schoolroom  and  equipment. 

This  type  of  school  is  not  a  corporation  school  in  the  strict 
sense.] 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  335 

The  table  on  page  336  fairly  well  summarizes  the  general 
features  described  on  page  334.^ 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  illustrate  the  foregoing  general 
statements  with  specific  cases.     Such  illustrations  follow.^ 

TYPE  I.      company's  BUSINESS — STUDY  COURSES 

(non-productive) 

ADDRESSOGRAPH  COMPANY 

The  training  work  of  the  Addressograph  Company  is  confined  to 
the  training  of  salesmen.  There  are  three  classes  of  this  service,  sales 
correspondents,  advertising  men,  and  branch  manager. 

Average  number  of  college  men  employed  each  year:  thirty  (not 
exclusively  coUege  men). 

Nature  of  work  after  finishing  company  training:  salesmanship. 

Training  courses  given  at :  home  office  in  Chicago. 

Total  length  of  training  course:  six  weeks. 

Salary  during  training:  no  salary,  but  expenses  may  be  advanced 
upon  request  up  to  $15  to  $20  per  week. 

Principal  features  of  training  course:  first,  a  thorough  mastery 
of  the  Addressograph:  second,  a  scientific  course  in  salesmanship;  and 
third,  introduction  into  actual  selling  tmder  the  guidance  of  an  expert 
salesman. 

Previous  education  preferred:  business  administration  from 
recognized  colleges. 

TYPE  II.   STUDY  AND  PRACTICE  COURSE  (PARTLY  PRODUCTIVE) 
MONTGOMERY  WARD  AND  COMPANY 

Average  number  of  college  men  employed  each  year:  fifteen. 
Nature  of  work  after  finishing  company  training:   executive,  or 
managerial  positions,  or  accounting,  according  to  ability. 
Training  courses  given  at :   Chicago  and  Kansas  City. 
Total  length  of  training  course:  six  months. 

*  Op.  cit.  Types  I,  II,  III  train  directly  only  for  the  company's  own 
business,  teaching  either  the  business  as  a  whole  or  specific  duties;  Types 
IV  and  V  give  also  general  education.  A  variety  of  methods  for  allocating 
expense  for  corporation  schools  is  also  suggested  but  is  too  varied  for 
reproduction  here. 

» The  illustrations  of  Types  I,  II,  and  III  are  taken  from  Proceedings  of 
the  Fifth  Annual  Convention  of  the  National  Association  of  Corporation 
Schools^  pp.  480-85. 


336 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


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THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  337 

Salary  during  training:  initial,  $15  to  $18  per  week,  depending 
upon  ability. 

Principal  feature  of  training  course:  a  thorough  textbook  study 
of  scientific  business  management,  and  practical  experience  in  the 
various  branches  of  the  business  following  orders  "  through"  the  house 
from  receipt  of  the  order  to  the  shipment  of  goods. 

Previous  education  preferred:  university  graduation  or  equiva- 
lent training;  evidence  of  leadership  is  highly  valued. 

TYPE  ni.      COMPANY  BUSINESS — WORK  COURSE  (PRODUCTIVE) 
.      AMERICAN   BRIDGE   COMPANY 

This  company,  which  engages  in  bridge  building,  barge,  and  other 
steel  construction,  operates  plants  in  New  York  City  and  Elmira, 
New  York;  Philadelphia,  Pittsburgh,  and  Ambridge,  Pennsylvania; 
Trenton,  New  Jersey;  Edgemoore,  Delaware;  Canton  and  Toledo, 
Ohio;  Gary,  Indiana;  Chicago,  Illinois;  Detroit,  Michigan;  Minne- 
apohs,  Minnesota;  and  St,  Louis,  Missouri. 

Average  number  of  college  men  employed  each  year:  sixty. 

Nature  of  work  after  finishing  company  training:  operating, 
mechanical  engineering,  erecting,  or  construction  department  work. 

Training  courses  given  at:  Ambridge  and  Gary. 

Total  length  of  training  course:  one  to  two  years. 

Salary  during  training:  initial,  $60  per  month;  $70  per  month 
after  three  to  six  months. 

Principal  features  of  training  course:  It  is  preferred  that  the 
graduate  students  enter  the  operating  department.  This  shop 
experience  gives  an  acquaintance  with  materials  essential  for  any 
employee  in  any  department. 

Previous  education  preferred:  civil,  mechanical,  electrical,  or 
chemical  engineering. 

TYPE   IV :     PLAN   NO.    7.      COMPANY  CONTINUATION  DAY   SCHOOL' 
R.   H.   MACY  AND   COMPANY 

The  primary  school  of  R.  H.  Macy  and  Company  is  its  continua- 
tion school  where  a  rather  fundamental  knowledge  of  arithmetic, 
speUing,  reading,  local  geography,  and  hygiene  is  given.  These 
subjects  are  presented  in  a  manner  which  shows  their  applicability  to 
business. 

^  From  the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools  Bulletin,  October, 
1918,  pp.  460-62. 


33^  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

This  school  is  located  one-half  block  from  the  store.  Here 
students  of  both  sexes  from  fifteen  to  twenty  years  of  age  spend  two 
hours  each  morning,  from  nine  to  eleven  o  'clock,  except  on  Mondays. 
The  duration  of  the  course  is  three  and  one-half  months,  giving  each 
student  about  150  hours  of  instruction.  Two  hours  each  morning  are 
allowed  for  study  on  store  time  and  at  store  expense. 

This  course  includes  several  bus  trips  about  town  to  give  the 
students  a  working  idea  of  the  city;  also  it  includes  talks  by  store 
executives  and  instructors  on  current  poHtical  and  business  subjects. 

Graduation  exercises  are  held  at  the  completion  of  the  course 
at  which  time  diplomas,  class  pins,  and  prizes  for  exceptional  standing 
are  awarded  by  members  of  the  Board  of  Education  and  store  officials. 
After  graduation  these  students  are  urged  to  join  the  Alumni  Associa- 
tion of  the  Continuation  School  which  holds  monthly  meetings  for 
business  and  recreational  activities. 

TYPE  IV :     PLAN  NO.   8.      CORPORATION  EVENING   CONTINUATION 

SCHOOLS^ 

THE  BROOKLYN  EDISON  COMPANY 

This  Brooklyn  Edison  Company  has  had  in  vogue  for  about 
seven  years  now  the  practice  of  giving  the  students  the  choice  of  any 
night  school  in  greater  New  York  which  he  may  desire  to  attend. 
The  student  pays  the  tuition  fee.  If  he  finishes  the  course  with  a 
grading  of  two-thirds,  the  Brooklyn  Edison  Company  refunds  his  fee. 
About  five  years  ago  the  company  started  their  own  classes,  giving 
lectures  on  electricity  and  system  practice.  Now  we  have  five 
different  courses  in  electricity  to  which  any  member  or  employee  of 
the  company  is  admitted  on  the  payment  of  $10;  and  if  he  passes, 
this  money  is  refunded.  To  make  sure  that  any  man  can  get  his 
money  back,  we  give  him  25  per  cent  for  attendance,  25  per  cent  for 
his  notebook,  and  graduate  him  if  he  gets  67  per  cent.  He  cannot 
fail  to  get  his  money  back  if  he  keeps  on  the  job.  In  addition  to  our 
classes  there  is  another  feature.  We  have  Pratt  Institute,  Columbia 
University,  and  any  number  of  classes  in  private  schools  which  our 
employees  can  enter  if  they  believe  that  a  course  in*  those  schools 
will  help  them  with  their  work.  If  there  are  those  desiring  to  enter 
these  classes,  the  matter  is  referred  to  our  educational  committee 
composed  of  five  department  heads,  and  this  committee  receives 

^  Proceedings  of  the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools,  Fifth 
Annual  Convention,  pp.  203-4. 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  339 

recommendations  from  the  man's  immediate  bureau  head  as  to 
whether  such  course  of  instruction  will  help  hira  in  his  work  or  not 
The  work  has  been  carried  on  for  three  years  now  and  we  are 
finishing  the  students  in  the  public  schools;  and  in  our  own  work,  71 
per  cent  of  the  people  who  apply,  men  and  women,  get  their  money 
back.  The  money  is  taken  out  weekly,  50  cents  to  $1  a  week,  or 
higher.  I  remember  that  last  year  we  had  one  man  who  applied 
for  $170  worth  of  tuition.  He  took  some  fixed  courses,  requiring  him 
to  give  five  nights  a  week,  besides  his  eight  hours  a  day  in  the  drafting- 
room,  and  he  got  away  with  it. 

THE   AMERICAN   INSTITUTE   OF   BANKING^ 

[The  American  Institute  of  Banking,  described  here,  is  of  special 
interest  as  an  elaborate  plan,  one  undertaken  by  an  association  and 
centrally  directed,  and  one  which  has  been  in  successful  operation 
since  1900.  The  A.  I.  B.  is  a  section  of  the  American  Bankers' 
Association.]^ 

The  most  successful  part  of  Institute  work  thus  far  has  been  done 
in  city  chapters.  Classwork  in  the  Institute  study  courses  should 
be  conducted  during  the  same  period  imder  the  direction  of  a  suitable 
instructor  employed  by  the  chapter  and  approved  by  the  Institute. 
Each  class  member  is  supplied  with  textbooks  and  instructors  are 
expected  to  conduct  examinations  prescribed  in  connection  with  each 
textbook The  following  articles  of  association  are  recom- 
mended for  any  new  city  chapters  that  may  be  organized. 

I.  Knowledge  City  Chapter  is  hereby  organized  for  the  purpose  of 
co-operating  with  the  American  Institute  of  Banking  section  of  the 
American  Bankers'  Association  in  (a)  the  education  of  bankers  in 
banking  and  such  principles  of  law  and  economics  as  pertain  to  the 
banking  business;  (b)  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  a 
recognized  standard  of  education  by  means  of  official  examinations 
and  the  issuance  of  certificates  of  graduation. 

^  Adapted  from  George  E.  Allen,  History  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Banking,  a  pamphlet  published  by  the  A.  I.  B. 

» An  excellent  example  of  a  similar  organization  is  the  Chicago  Central 
Station  Institute  which  was  founded  in  191 2  as  the  Bureau  of  Education 
for  the  following  companies:  Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  Federal 
Sign  System  (Electric),  Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Company,  Middle  West 
Utilities  Company,  Public  Service  Company  of  Northern  Illinois.  It  was 
founded  for  the  piupose  of  organizing  and  conducting  special  educational 
courses  for  present  and  prospective  employees  of  the  supporting  companies. 


340  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

2.  Any  employee,  or  officer,  or  director  of  a  bank  or  other  financial 
institution  in  Knowledge  City  or  vicinity  may  be  an  active  member  of 
this  chapter  upon  election  and  payment  of  annual  dues  of  $4  in 
quarterly  instalments  in  advance.  Such  dues  include  individual 
subscription  to  the  Bulletin  of  the  American  Institute  of  Banking  at 
the  rate  of  50  cents  a  year,  payable  in  quarterly  instalments  in 
advance,  etc. 

Outside  of  study  classes  in  city  chapters,  equally  effective  instruc- 
tion is  provided  by  the  Correspondence  Chapter.  In  correspondence 
instruction  each  student  is  supplied  with  the  serial  textbooks  including 
exercises.  The  exercises  in  connection  with  each  textbook  are  to 
be  submitted  to  instructors  whenever  done.  The  work  of  students 
thus  produced  is  corrected  and  returned  with  such  criticisms  and 
suggestions  as  may  be  helpful  in  each  case 

The  membership  of  the  Correspondence  Chapter,  in  addition  to 
its  incorporators,  shall  be  limited  to  bank  officers  and  other  employees 
who  reside  outside  of  the  jurisdiction  of  city  chapters  and  state  chap- 
ters and  are  not  members  of  any  city  chapter  or  any  state  chapter 

In  suitable  states  students  of  banking  are  organized  in  state 
chapters  for  the  purpose  of  pursuing  the  Institute  courses  of  study 
in  classes  or  by  correspondence  according  to  circumstances.  State 
chapters  thus  far  organized  are  affiliated  with  respective  state  bankers' 
associations.  The  idea  of  a  state  chapter  is  simply  to  localize  and 
popularize  Institute  instruction.  Correspondence  instruction  in 
state  chapters  is  identical  in  character  with  the  work  of  the  Corre- 
spondence Chapter.  Classwork  in  state  chapters  is  identical  in 
character  with  classwork  in  city  chapters. 

TYPE  IV :  PLAN  NO.  9.'   A  CORPORATION  CORRESPONDENCE 
CONTINUATION  SCHOOL 

We  have  had  a  salesman's  correspondence  course  for  some  time. 

That  does  not  say  that  we  have  not  used  the  material  which  is 
available  from  textbooks,  and  from  courses  which  have  been  prepared 
in  various  ways  by  educational  institutions  on  salesmanship.  We 
have  used  the  bulk  of  that  material,  but  we  have  used  it  by  applying 
it  to  our  own  business.  We  have  avoided  general  terms,  scientific 
terms,   technical   terms  in   connection  with   the  work.     We  have 

^  Adapted  from  statements  by  "a  delegate"  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Third  Annual  Convention  of  the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools ^ 
pp.  581-84. 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  341 

changed  these  courses  and  appUed  illustrations  that  the  salesman 
can  pick  up — that  he  runs  up  against  in  his  daily  talks  with  customers; 
actual  illustrations  that  he  has  experienced — that  his  fellow  salesman 
has  experienced  in  the  same  district.  There  are  certain  courses  that 
are  estabUshed  for  general  use,  but  with  these  courses  we  have  a  great 
deal  less  interest  displayed. 

We  have  used  most  of  the  scientific  information  that  has  been 
produced  in  textbooks  of  other  courses,  but  the  salesman  did  not  see 
the  appUcation  of  that  scientific  principle  to  his  own  business  until 
we  appHed  it  to  his  own  daily  work. 

We  do  not  have  to  require  it — ^the  salesman  likes  it — for  without 
it  he  himself  feels  that  he  has  not  definitely  gotten  over  the  ground. 

We  do  require  written  replies  to  examinations  that  we  send  to 
our  agents,  and  we  have  been  well  satisfied  and  pleased  with  the  results 
we  have  been  getting. 

We  send  out  a  paper  with  ten  questions  that  require  originality 
in  the  answers.  There,  of  course,  we  give  full  play  to  the  man, 
and  the  rephes  are  really  instructive;  they  show  the  value  of  the 
course. 

We  likewise  have  been  deeply  impressed  by  the  treatment  of  the 
ethics  of  the  profession.  It  opens  up  a  new  field  which  a  man  started 
for  but  which  he  has  overlooked.  The  correspondence  courses  show 
a  man  that  what  he  has  been  doing  as  a  matter  of  daily  habit  is  really 
amenable  to  scientific  principles. 

But  the  written  rephes  are  very  good  and  we  have  a  staff  of 
examiners  who  examine  these  papers  and  show  the  agent  his  weak 
points. 

CORPORATION  SCHOOLS  OTHER  THAN  SPECIAL 
TRAINING  SCHOOLS 

Thus  far  we  have  given  a  rather  detailed  consideration  to 
"special  training  schools."  There  remain  to  be  considered  the 
five  other  distinctive  forms  of  corporation  schools  outlined  on 
page  329. 

THE  TRADE   APPRIiNTICESHIP   SCHOOL 

One  of  the  best  illustrations  of  a  well-organized  trade 
apprenticeship  school  (although  there  are  many  others)  is  that 
of  the  Lakeside  Press.  The  school  for  apprentices  of  the 
Lakeside  Press  was  established  in  July,  1908.    The  school  is 


342 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


organized  to  meet  the  demands  both  of  the  employer  and  of 
the  apprentice/ 

A  special  room  is  provided  for  the  school,  one  part  being  equipped 
as  a  modern  schoolroom  and  the  other  part  as  a  model  composing- 
room.  In  the  school  the  boys  are  under  the  direction  of  instructors 
who  devote  their  entire  time  to  the  school.  They  are  the  supervisor, 
who  teaches  a  part  of  the  academic  work  and  has  general  oversight 
of  the  boys  in  the  factory;  the  instructor,  who  has  direct  charge  of  the 
academic  work  and  assists  the  supervisor;  the  instructor  in  printing, 
who  has  charge  of  the  trade  instruction  in  the  school;  and  the  instructor 
in  presswork,  who  has  charge  of  the  apprentices  in  the  pressrooms. 

The  course  of  apprenticeship  is  divided  into  two  periods:  first, 
that  of  pre-apprenticeship,  for  the  first  two  years,  during  which  time 
the  boys  spend  half  time  in  the  school  and  half  time  in  the  factory, 
and  second,  that  of  apprenticeship,  when  the  boys  spend  full  time 
in  the  factory,  with  the  exception  of  several  hours  each  week  when 
they  attend  the  school. 

The  students  are  in  school  three  and  one-half  hours  daily,  during 
the  pre-apprenticeship  course,  and  are  divided  into  two  classes 
graded  according  to  their  standings.  They  also  work  four  and  one- 
half  hours  daily  in  the  shop,  or  at  work  connected  with  the  factory 
or  the  counting-room. 

The  boys  are  paid  for  the  time  actually  spent  in  the  factory  during 
the  two  years.  In  the  school  the  instruction  and  all  materials  used 
are  furnished  free. 

The  amounts  actually  earned  by  the  boys  are  shown  in  the  follow- 
ing table: 

TABLE  XXXI 


First  year,  52  weeks 

Second  year,  52  weeks 

First  half  third  year,  26  weeks. . . 
Second  half  third  year 


Rate  Per 
Week 


$2.40 

300 
5.00 
6.00 


Total 

$124.80 
156.00 
130.00 
156.00 


Bonus  for 
Efficiency 


$25.00 
25.00 


Arithmetic  is  reviewed  from  the  factory  side.  An  applied 
arithmetic  has  been  prepared  to  be  used  in  connection  with  the  review 

» The  Lakeside  Press  is  the  printing  establishment  of  R.  R.  Donnelley  & 
Sons  Company  of  Chicago.  The  statement  here  given  is  adapted  from  the 
BuUetin  of  the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools,  November,  iyi6, 
PP-  33-37. 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  343 

work.  Elementary  bookkeeping  is  taught  by  means  of  lessons  especi- 
ally arranged  for  the  printing  office.  The  elements  of  algebra  and 
geometry  are  taught,  and  whenever  possible  the  problems  are  applied 
to  the  trade.  Every  apprentice  is  required  to  read  and  review  at 
least  six  books  of  standard  literature  each  year. 

The  pre-apprentices  spend  one  and  three-quarters  hours  daily 
doing  academic  work.  This  time  is  divided  into  two  periods,  and 
the  lessons  given  are  in  design,  EngHsh,  and  mathematics,  alternating 
with  history  and  elementary  science.  The  lessons  in  design  are 
applied  in  the  written  as  well  as  the  printed  work,  in  all  the  different 
subjects.  Every  exercise  is  a  lesson  in  English.  The  rules  laid  down 
for  good  book-work  are  followed  in  all  written  work.  Proof  marks 
are  used  in  correcting  all  exercises,  and  the  marks  are  definite  and 
easily  understood. 

When  the  pre-apprenticeship  course  is  completed,  at  the  end  of 
two  years,  the  boys,  then  sixteen  years  of  age,  enter  the  factory  as 
regular  apprentices  to  learn  some  one  of  the  trades  in  the  different 
branches  of  the  printing  business.  During  their  pre-apprenticeship 
course  they  become  acquainted  with  the  various  departments,  and 
with  this  knowledge  are  able  to  select  the  line  of  work  for  which  they 
are  best  fitted.  The  boys  are  under  supervision  during  the  apprentice 
period,  and  are  scheduled  for  a  definite  time  to  each  of  the  different 
lines  of  work  in  the  trade  selected,  and  are  given  every  opportunity 
to  learn  the  trade  as  a  whole. 

The  academic  training,  begun  during  the  pre-apprenticeship 
course,  is  continued  during  the  apprenticeship;  the  boys  attend  school 
for  several  hours  each  week  during  the  entire  course  and  receive 
regular  pay.  The  courses  of  instruction  advance,  and  new  subjects 
are  added  as  the  apprentices  master  the  work.  Much  attention  is 
given  to  designing;  layouts  for  jobs  are  made,  and  when  carried  out 
in  type  are  carefully  criticized.  Mechanics,  industrial  history, 
English,  hygiene,  and  economics  are  given. 

THE   OFFICE-WORK  SCHOOL 

The  corporation  school  to  train  for  "office  work"  has  become 
important.  What  it  is  and  what  it  can  do  has  been  expressed 
as  follows:^ 

It  is  of  some  importance  to  know  exactly  what  is  meant  by  the 
term   "office- work   school."    Any  definite,   systematic  method   of 

^  This  is  a  condensation  of.  a  statement  made  by  W.  William  Schulze 
of  the  Alexander  Hamilton  Institute,  Proceedings  of  the  Second  Annual 


344  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

training  employees  so  that  they  will  perform  their  assigned  ofl&ce 
duties  correctly  and  intelligently  is  an  office- work  school. 

The  office-work  school,  if  properly  conducted,  will:  (i)  insure 
the  proper  instruction  of  each  individual  employee;  (2)  enable  you  to 
train  your  office  employee  much  more  cheaply  than  by  the  old  hap- 
hazard method;  (3)  enable  you  to  eliminate  useless  motion;  (4) 
serve  as  a  distinct  aid  in  standardizing  office  methods;  (5)  help  you 
train  understudies;  (6)  be  of  valuable  assistance  in  preparing  and 
issuing  office  instruction  manuals;  (7)  stimulate  loyalty  to  the  con- 
cern; (8)  help  you  build  good  will  by  training  office  employees  to  be 
more  attentive  and  courteous  in  their  deaHngs  with  outsiders;  (9) 
enable  you  to  standardize  output  and  establish  salaries  upon  a  more 
scientific  basis;  (10)  enable  you  to  select  appHcants  for  positions 
more  effectively. 

The  significance  and  pertinence  of  the  office-work  school, 
even  for  persons  well  prepared  generally,  is  indicated  by  J.  W. 
Dietz,  who  as  educational  director  of  the  Western  Electric 
Company  has  had  a  long  and  successful  experience.^ 

In  the  manufacture  of  our  product  we  have  a  great  deal  of  detail 
to  contend  with,  and  the  terms  that  are  used  are  extremely  special. 
We  have  a  lot  of  stenographers  who,  when  they  come  to  us  and  hear 
the  terms  "dish  wheel,"  "cup  wheel,"  and  different  mechanical 
terms,  do  not  know  what  they  mean.  We  found  that  our  corre- 
spondence and  office  work  suffered  materially  from  lack  of  that 
knowledge.  To  bring  about  a  better  understanding,  we  divide  the 
clerks  from  the  correspondence,  bookkeeping,  and  other  departments 
into  small  groups,  and  periodically  guide  them  through  the  shops, 
not  so  that  they  are  required  to  observe  all  the  operations  in  a  com- 
paratively short  time,  but  to  show  them  enough  to  enable  them  to 
understand  the  operation  of  each  department.  When  that  is  com- 
plete, having  had  ocular  evidence  of  what  they  saw  on  paper,  we 
bring  them  into  the  lecture-room  and  explain  by  means  of  lantern 

Convention  of  the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools,  pp.  500, 
515-16.  Among  the  companies  conducting  office- work  schools  are  the 
Western  Electric  Co.,  the  Burroughs  Adding  Machine  Co.,  and  the  National 
Cloak  and  Suit  Co. 

^  The  statement  in  Proceedings  of  the  First  Annual  Convention  of  the 
National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools,  pp.  219-20. 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  345 

slides  the  operations  they  have  actually  witnessed,  and  explain  to 
them  why  certain  operations  must  take  place,  and  why  a  certain  prod- 
uct is  called  a  certain  thing.  We  found  the  intelligence  in  handling 
the  office  work  materially  improved.  We  are  getting  up  a  special 
dictionary  of  a  series  of  terms  as  applied  to  our  particular  business, 
and  a  very  complete  definition  of  each  term  is  given.  We  use  words 
that  are  ordinarily  used  in  English,  but  they  have  a  quite  different 
meaning,  and  we  find  it  improves  matters  very  materially  to  give 
special  instruction  as  to  their  use. 

In  the  smnmertime,  usually  in  July,  the  various  agents  through- 
out the  country  send  in  their  salesmen  who  have  directly  to  do  with 
our  product,  and  they  are  for  the  time-being  guests  at  the  shop.  The 
sessions  begin  in  the  morning  and  last  until  evening,  including  a 
certain  amount  of  shopwork.  In  this  the  office  employees  take  part. 
To  be  sure  that  nothing  goes  out  that  is  not  perfect  in  the  way  of 
diction  and  grammatical  construction,  we  have  all  our  correspondence 
censored  by  people  well  educated  and  specially  trained  along  the  lines 
of  English  construction,  and  in  that  way  the  censor  of  the  correspond- 
ence has  an  opportunity  to  select  and  watch  those  who  appear  to  be 
weakest  in  that  direction.  Those  are  taken  aside  for  special  instruc- 
tion and  told  the  method  they  should  adopt  for  study  to  produce  the 
most  desirable  results. 

ADVERTISING,   SELLING,   AND  DISTRIBUTION    SCHOOLS 

To  a  considerable  extent  selling  and  distribution  schools 
have  been  illustrated  above  in  our  discussion  of  special  training 
schools.  The  Addressograph  Company,  the  American  Steel 
and  Wire  Company,  the  Atlantic  Refining  Company,  and  the 
Carnegie  Steel  Company  have  all  reported  to  the  National 
Association  of  Corporation  Schools  that  they  use  Type  I  of 
the  special  training  schools  for  training  salesmen.  The  Yale 
&  Towne  Manufacturing  Company  makes  use  of  Type  II; 
Graton  &  Knight  and  the  Norton  &  Norton  Grindmg  Company 
use  Type  III  for  developing  salesmen's  ability. 

Devices  which  can  be  hardly  classified  as  corporation  schools, 
but  which  are  used  extensively  by  many  firms,  are  the  brief,  but 
intensive,  courses  given  in  connection  with  salesmen's  conven- 
tions and  the  sales  manuals  which  are  at  times  elaborate  in  their 
instructions  to  salesmen. 


346  .   EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Selling  schools  have  in  some  instances  been  developed  to 
such  an  extent  that  specific  illustrations  will  be  well  worth 
while.  A  manufacturer 's  school  for  salesmen  is  well  illustrated 
in  the  following  description  of  the  plan  used  by  the  Ford  Motor 
Company: 

THE    COURSE    IN    DISTRIBUTION    OP   THE    FORD    MOTOR    COMPANY' 

The  producer  should  always  consider  the  problem  of  distribution 
a^  that  of  distribution  to  the  ultimate  consumer. 

The  study  of  distribution  is  the  study  of  placing  what  you  have 
where  it  is  wanted,  but  also  the  study  of  what  is  wanted  and  of 
where  and  when  wants  can  be  created  so  as  to  place  what  you  will 
have — often  not  so  much  to  find  as  to  make  or  wake  a  market. 

Distribuiion 

Making  the  market  Meeting  the  market 

(getting  orders)  (filling  orders) 

1.  Planning  i.  Packing 

a)  What  amounts  of  orders  are 

desired  and  when 

b)  How  to  get  them  there 

2.  Representing  by  advertise-        2.  Routing 

ments  and  salesmen 

3.  Closing  sales  by  salesmen  3.  Following  through  to  arrival  by 

trafiic  men 
4.  After-service    (to    insure    per- 
manent satisfaction) 
Four  factors  in  distribution: 

1.  What  is  to  be  moved 

2.  Whither  it  is  to  be  moved 

3.  How  it  is  to  be  moved 

4.  Guarantee  of  future 

1.  Goods 

a)  Quality 

b)  Bulk 

c)  Perishability  (by  marring  or  spoiling) 

2.  Demand 

a)  Existing  and  to  be  increased  or  regulated 
Advertising  (paid,  or  pubhcity,  or  premiums) 
Salesmen  (orderseekers,  visiting  salesmen) 

'  Taken  from  the  Proceedings  of  the  National  Association  of  Corpora- 
Hon  Schools,  Fifth  Annual  Convention^  pp.  649-51. 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  347 

b)  To  be  created 

Where  can  need  of  it  best  be  roused  ? 

Advertising  and  salesmen  of  type  to  create  the  special  demand 
desired  due  to  plan  of  production  and  to  need  product  can  fill 

c)  By  what  kind  of  people  ? 

Where  and  in  what  numbers  do  they  live  ? 
What  classes  and  territories  shall  be  selected  as  most  profitable  ? 
(those  in  big  cities  or  small  or  in  country  ?) 

d)  Affected  by  competition,  how 

By  service  given,  or  attention  to  delivery 

e)  Seasonal 

Frequency  (single  or  repeated  orders) 

How  elastic  (can  be  built  up — sensitive  to  trade  conditions) 

Methods  of  moving  these  goods  to  meet  this  demand 

a)  Sell  to  whom 

(i)  Direct  to  consimier — Mail  orders 
Canvassers 
Salesmen 

(2)  Through  middlemen — Wholesaler 

Broker  or  brokerage  association 

Jobber 

Retailer 

Producers'  association 

Chain  stores 

Subsidiary  companies 

Agents 

(3)  Combination  of  (i)  and  (2) 

b)  Dehver  by  means  of 

(i)  Existing  methods — as  to  quality  and  speed  and  cost 


Carriers 

Routes 

Handling 

Horses 

Paved  roads 

Number  of  times  handled 

Trucks 

Country  roads 

Handlers  in  whose  employ 

Freight — railroad 

Railroads 

Freight — ^boat 

Lakes 

Express 

Rivers 

Parcel  post 

Canals 

Messenger  boys 

Merchants'  del. 

34^  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

(2)  Individual  methods  to  be  evolved 

(a)  Special  devices,  as  Standard  Oil  Co.'s  pipe  lines  or 

Ford  Motor  Co.  *s  assembly  plants 

(b)  Private  carriers' — chain  of  traffic  men  along  railroad 

lines — ^boats  owned  by  company — own  delivery  sys- 
tem rather  than  merchants'  delivery 

(c)  By  leasing  right  to  use  product — as  shoe  machinery  or 

victrola  or  slot  machine 
By  paying  for  license  and  power  to  operate,  as  Pullman 
Co.  with  its  sleepers 

4.  Guarantee  of  future,  namely,  service,  during  and  after  the  sale. 
[Definition:  Service  is  everything,  outside  of  the  product  itself, 
which  the  distributor  does  to  increase  the  purchaser's  satisfaction 
in  obtaining  and  in  using  the  product,  such  as  special  accommoda- 
tion, reliability  and  courtesy  in  all  dealings  with  purchaser,  clear 
instruction  as  to  hpw  to  derive  greatest  use,  handy  depots  for 
obtaining  replenishment,  or  repair  parts  and  service,  for  middle  men, 
assistance  toward  disposal  of  product] 

The  school  for  salesmen  of  a  concern  making  a  great  variety 
of  technical  products  and  selling  them  to  dealers  is  described 
as  follows  by  one  of  its  representatives: 

THE   salesmen's   SCHOOL   COURSE   OF  THE   ELI-LILLY  CO.* 

The  Lilly  organization. — Before  outlining  the  work  of  thfe  Lilly 
Salesmen's  School,  I  feel  that  it  would  be  in  order  to  give  you  a  few 
hints  regarding  the  business  of  this  concern. 

In  the  first  place,  we  have  no  direct  accounts  with  retail  drug- 
gists, physicians  or  anyone  excepting  manufacturers  and  wholesale 
druggists.  Our  total  number  of  charge  accounts,  therefore,  amounts 
to  less  than  300.  We  believe  that  it  is  the  province  of  the  manufac- 
turer to  make,  the  jobber  to  job,  the  retailer  to  dispense,  the 
physician  to  prescribe  and  the  public  to  consume.  That,  in  a  nut- 
shell, is  the  business  policy  of  Eli-Lilly  Co. 

We  feel  that  all  parties  connected  with  the  marketing  of  phar- 
maceutical and  biological  products  are  entitled  to  their  fair  and  just 

*  Adapted  from  the  National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools,  Fifth 
Annual  Convention,  pp.  657-66.  Copyright,  191 7,  by  the  National  Associa- 
tion of  Corporation  Schools. 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  349 

compensation  for  handling  or  dealing  in  these  products,  and  in  view 
of  this  Lilly  policy  was  adopted  in  1894. 

Fundamental  qualifications  of  prospective  salesmen. — ^A  man  to 
become  a  member  of  our  sales  or  retail  stafif  must  have  a  technical 
education,  must  be  either  a  graduate  or  registered  pharmacist  or  a 
graduate  physician,  must  be  high  grade,  of  splendid  moral  character, 
a  man  who  stands  well  in  his  community,  bears  a  good  reputation  for 
past  record  and  is  able  to  take  several  rather  strong  tests  for  intellect, 
decision  and  abihty. 

Outline  Showing  Character  of  Instruction 

Section  i 

Introductory.    PoHcy  by  President,  General  Manager,  el  al. 

Ordering  Supphes 

Preliminary  Talk  on  Price  List 

Botanical  Inspection  Crude  Drug  Materials 

Chemical  Control  of  Materials  and  Manufacturing  Processes 

View  of  the  IndianapoHs  Laboratories  and  System  Study 

Pharmaceutical  Development  and  Certain  Lilly  Products 

The  Older  Lilly  Specialties 

Section  2 
Special  Formulas 

Labeling  and  Packaging  Finished  Products 
Stockkeeping  and  Shipping 
Advertising 
Credits  and  Expenses 

Physiological  Testing  and  Experimental  Medicine 
Lilly  Quality 
Orders,  Communications  and  Reports 

Section  3 

New  Items  and  Future  Specialties 

The  Newer  Lilly  Specialties 

Complaints  and  Returned  Goods 

Lilly  PoHcy 

Demonstration  Sale:  SelUng  a  Nice  Lilly  Order  to  a  40  per  cent  and 

10  per  cent  Preferred  Retail  Customer  of  Our  Competitors  (time 

limit  20  minutes) 
Demonstration  Detail  Interview  on  Lilly  Biologicals  (time  limit  20 

minutes) 


3SO  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Why  It  Pays  to  Call  on  Every  Drug  Store,  Large  and  Small 

What  I  Am  Doing  to  Educate  My  Customers  on  the  Wisdom  of 

Buying  through  the  Jobber 
What  I  Have  Accomplished  with  Jobbing  Salesmen 
How  I  Persuaded  a  Large  40  per  cent  and  10  per  cent  Direct-Buying 

Retailer  to  Buy  Lilly  Products  through  the  Jobber  at  40  per  cent 

Discount 
A  List  of  Large  Retailers  Who  Were  Buying  from  Direct-Selling 

Competitors  at  40  per  cent  and  10  per  cent  Discount  Whom  I 

Changed  to  Buying  Lilly  Products  at  40  per  cent  through  the 

Jobber;  Argmnents  I  Used  to  Switch  Them. 
How  the  Advertising  Department  Co-operates  with  Salesmen   in 

Detail  Work. 
How  I  Detail  Alcresta  Tablets  of  Ipecac  to  Physicians 
How  I  Detail  Liquid  Blaud 
How  I  Detail  Ampoules 
How  I  Detail  Dental  Lotion 
Talking  Points  on  Dental  Line 

Section  4 
Laboratory  Organization  and  Efi&ciency 
New  Packages 
Dental  Line 
Prices 
Selling  Points  on  Dental  Line 

Section  5 
General  Inspection  Smallpox  Vaccine  Building 
Manufacturing  Smallpox  Vaccine — ^Demonstration 
Inspection  of  Animal  Building 
Harvesting  Ripe  Vaccine — ^Demonstration 
General  Inspection  of  Antitoxin  Building 
Preparation  of  Horses 

Inoculation  of  Diphtheria  and  Tetanus  Horses — Demonstration 
Inspection  of  Tuberculin  and  Testing  Laboratories 
Bleeding  Horses — ^Demonstration 
Concentration  and  Purification  of  Antitoxins 
Drug  Plant  Cultivation 

Section  6 

Selling  Points  on  Antitoxins  and  Serums 
Detail  Talking  Points  on  Antitoxins  and  Serums 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  351 

Section  7 
Preparation  of  Bacterial  Vaccine 
Preparation  of  Rabies  Virus,  Lilly 
Inspection  of  Laboratories  Demonstrating  the  Filling  and  Packaging 

of  Bacterial  Vaccines,  Serums  and  Antitoxins 
Our   Biological   Line — ^Advantageous   Talking    Points    for   Jobber, 

Retailer  and  Physician  during  Epidemics 
Vaccines — How  I  Detail  Them — How  I  Sell  Druggists 
Issuing  Equipment 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  crude  product  is  followed  from  the 
beginning,  taking  it  through  each  process  of  manufacture  down  to 
the  finished  product.  The  course  then  takes  up  the  business  policy 
of  the  concern  and  devotes  considerable  time  to  that.  The  demon- 
stration sale  and  the  demonstration  detail  interview  immediately 
following  the  demonstration  sale  should  be  especially  noted. 

Purpose  of  school. — One  of  the  fundamentals  of  the  school  is  to 
give  every  Lilly  salesman  and  detail  representative  all  the  information 
there  is  to  be  had  about  the  products  of  this  house.  It  tries  to 
thoroughly  familiarize  the  men  with  every  product  that  the  firm 
makes.  The  salesman  is  expected  to  know  his  products  simply  inside 
out,  and  to  be  able  to  weave  a  wonderful  story  about  their  source  and 
follow  each  step  of  their  manufacture  right  down  through  to  the 
finished  product.  This,  as  I  see  it,  is  one  of  the  greatest  aids  to  effi- 
cient salesmanship — ^know  your  line  and  this  will  beget  enthusiasm. 

An  example  of  an  extensive,  successful,  and  in  some  of  its 
features,  unique  sales  school  is  that  of  the  Curtis  Publishing 
Company.  It  is  thus  described  by  M.  E.  Douglas,  sales  manager 
of  the  company.^ 

Today  our  sales  division  is  conducting  what  we  believe  to  be  the 
world's  greatest  school  in  salesmanship  for  boys.  This  school,  con- 
sisting in  the  beginning  of  one  instructor,  now  includes  forty  highly 
trained  correspondents,  fifty  roadmen,  two  thousand  district  agents, 
and  fifty  thousand  to  fifty-five  thousand  parents  who,  upon  sugges- 
tions from  us,  are  co-operating  in  training  the  boys.  The  pay-roll 
of  our  sales  division,  which  is  maintained  solely  to  handle  the  business 
promoted  by  our  sales  agents,  approaches  $400,000  a  year. 

*  From  the  Proceedings  of  the  Second  Annual  Convention  of  the  National 
Association  of  Corporation  Schools ^  pp.  177-81. 


352  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

At  the  time  of  their  appointment,  boy  agents  and  their  parents 
are  given  personal  instructions  by  the  roadmen.  Three  or  four  times 
a  year  the  roadmen  revisit  each  district  agent  and  give  additional 
instructions,  according  to  our  changing  plans  and  methods. 

Our  district  agents  and  our  branch  managers  personally  instruct 
the  boy  agents  whom  they  supply. 

Conferences  of  our  branch  managers,  conventions  of  our  roadmen, 
conventions  of  our  district  agents  by  states  and  by  sections  are 
frequently  held. 

Our  expert  correspondents,  whose  helpful  letters  to  the  boys  have 
been  the  means  of  developing  this  highly  trained  force,  in  rotation 
spend  a  part  of  their  time  with  agents  in  the  field  each  year. 

For  the  training  of  the  boys,  personal  instruction  is  supplemented 
by  printed  matter  suited  to  the  age  and  experience  of  the  boys  and 
of  their  parents.  Some  of  this  printed  matter  is  sent  out  from  the 
home  office,  some  from  the  branch  offices,  some  from  the  offices  of  the 
district  agents. 

This  printed  matter  includes  both  manuals  of  an  educational 
nature  and  booklets  intended  to  have  an  inspirational  effect. 

Our  manual  for  the  boys  themselves  is  a  loo-page  booklet  entitled 
How  to  Sell  100  Copies  Weekly.  When  a  boy's  first  paid  order  is 
received  at  the  home  office,  at  the  branch,  or  at  the  district  agency, 
this  manual  is  given  to  the  beginner.  In  language  adapted  to  the 
boy's  age  and  experience,  the  manual  tells  him  how  to  get  his  first 
list  of  steady  customers  among  his  friends  and  neighbors,  and  by 
easy  stages  leads  him,  if  he  has  it  in  him,  up  to  rank  among  our 
champion  boys.  We  have  printed  and  distributed  100,000  copies 
of  this  manual. 

For  parents  we  have  the  56-page  manual  entitled  What  Shall  I 
Do  with  My  Boy?  After  reading  this  manual  the  interested  parent 
helps  the  boy  to  master  the  selling  plans  described  in  the  booklet 
How  to  Sell  100  Copies  Weekly. 

For  district  agents  we  have  the  manual  entitled  The  District 
Agent  as  a  Sales  Promoter,  291  pages.  This  booklet  contains  a  full 
discussion  o^  such  subjects  as  the  relation  between  promotion  and 
distribution,  the  relation  of  the  Curtis  boy  to  promotion  and  distribu- 
tion, how  to  get  boys,  how  to  train  green  boys  for  salesmanship,  how 
to  hold  boys  that  have  made  good,  etc. 

Our  sales  division  publishes  each  month  the  house  organ  called 
Our  Boys,  one  copy  of  which  is  mailed  to  each  boy  regular  agent. 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  353 

sub-agent  and  special  agent  throughout  the  country.  Announce- 
ments of  interest  to  our  boys,  new  selling  plans,  stories  of  the  selling 
achievements  of  various  boys — all  this  is  given  entirely  without  cost 
to  the  boys.    The  "Parents'  Personal  Page"  is  a  special  feature. 

We  have  a  second  house  organ  called  Our  District  Agents,  printed 
monthly  and  mailed  to  district  agents  only.  Inspirational  and  educa- 
tional matter  with  reference  to  promoting  sales  through  boys  appears 
in  each  issue. 

Constant  effort  is  made  to  train  the  boys  to  sell  the  article  rather 
than  the  pubUcation.  This  involves  arousing  the  boy's  interest  in 
the  article,  helping  him  to  understand  it,  so  that  he  can  talk  about  its 
good  points.  Interested  parents  are  helping  their  boys  to  identify 
the  feature  articles  and  to  learn  what  to  say  about  them  to  their 
prospects.  Among  other  plans  for  training  the  boys  to  seU  the  article 
or  story  of  special  local  interest  are  these  two: 

Each  week  we  send  to  a  selected  large  list  of  boys  printed  fore- 
casts of  the  contents  of  coming  issues.  These  forecasts  tell  the  boys 
what  to  say  about  the  special  features  of  the  issue. 

Another  and  a  most  potent  factor  in  the  training  of  our  boys  is 
the  personal  letter.  The  correspondents  in  the  home  oflSce  and  at 
the  branch  offices  participate  in  the  boys '  hopes,  in  the  boys '  imagin- 
ings, in  the  boys'  desires;  they  give  of  themselves  to  the  boys;  they 
interest  themselves  in  the  boys'  undertakings,  so  they  know  how  to 
write  letters  that  reach  beneath  the  vests  of  the  boys,  are  able  to 
direct  the  boys'  desires,  to  help  the  boys  to  substitute  real  selling 
methods  in  place  of  the  personal  or  sympathetic  appeal  for  trade. 

RETAIL  SALESMANSHIP   SCHOOLS 

Retail  salesmanship  schools  are,  in  so  many  instances, 
conducted  by  corporations  in  co-operation  with  the  public-school 
systems,*  that  one  is  likely  to  confuse  such  undertakings  with 
the  strictly  corporation  school.  Many  of  the  larger  department 
stores  furnish  samples  of  the  latter,  however.  The  work  of  the 
retail  selling  school  Of  one  of  the  largest  of  the  "chains"  is  thus 
described  by  one  of  those  responsible  for  its  conduct." 

» As  in  Boston  and  Cincinnati. 

'  Adapted  from  a  statement  by  H.  G.  Petermann  of  the  United  Cigar 
Stores  Co.,  Proceedings  of  the  Third  Annual  Convention  of  the  National 
Association  oj  Corporation  Schools^  pp.  557-58. 


354  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

All  new  salesmen  are  required  to  pass  through  this  training  course 
which  covers  a  period  of  fourteen  to  twenty-one  days.  Our  method 
of  buying  and  selling,  also  our  rules  relative  to  the  handling  of  cus- 
tomers are  made  plain  to  the  new  man. 

All  departments  of  our  business  are  covered  in  talks  and  text- 
books. Lectures  are  given  on  the  culture  and  manufacture  of  tobacco 
grown  in  different  countries.  Talking  points  are  taught  them  on 
Amber,  Meerschaum,  Briar,  Calabash.  Good  service  talks,  sales- 
manship, customs  duties,  internal  revenue,  etc.,  etc.  In  fact,  the 
history  of  tobacco  from  the  time  the  seed  is  planted  in  the  groimd 
until  the  internal  revenue  stamp  is  placed  on  the  box  that  contains 
the  finished  product  is  explained — we  get  right  down  to  the  how  and 
why,  so  that  even  a  child  may  be  able  to  understand  it. 

Written  examinations  are  given  to  make  men  think  and  work  to 
determine  their  progress.  A  quiz  upon  the  sales  manual.  Written 
notes  on  previous  days'  work,  etc.,  etc.  All  of  the  men  sent  by  the 
employment  department  to  our  training  department  do  not  reach  a 
store.  While  in  school  they  are  on  probation.  Those  who  show  a 
lack  of  interest  in  our  proposition,  or  after  a  fair  trial,  do  not  measure 
up  to  the  required  "United"  standards,  are  weeded  out. 

SCHOOLS  POR   UNSKILLED   LABOR 

Corporation  schools  for  unskilled  labor  are  for  the  most  part 
concerned  with  the  teaching  of  English,  the  prevention  of  acci- 
dents, and  "Americanization.''  Such  schools  present  unusual 
difficulties  of  organization  and  the  persons  who  are  directing 
such  schools  speak  as  often  in  terms  of  these  difficulties  as  in 
terms  of  accomplishment.  More  detailed  discussion  of  them 
may  be  omitted  at  this  place. 

THE  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF 
CORPORATION  SCHOOLS 

One  of  the  most  interesting  things  about  the  corporation- 
school  movement  is  the  thoroughly  professional  attitude  which 
is  taken,  by  its  best  representatives  at  least,  toward  the  technical 
phases  of  their  work.  Proper  means  of  organization  and  admin- 
istration have  been  given  a  great  deal  of  attention  and  the 
relation  of  the  corporation  school  to  certain  other  forms  of 
training  has  been  made  the  subject  of  a  special  investigation. 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  355 

The  statements  which  follow  are  largely  drawn  from  the 
reports,  suggestions,  and  recommendations  made  by  special 
committees  and  individuals  in  corporation  school  work.^ 

The  superintendent  of  the  corporation  school  performs  duties 
somewhat  similar  to  those  performed  by  the  same  ofl&cial  for  the  Board 
of  Education,  although  they  are  likely  to  be  much  more  specific  in 
character  since  the  corporation  school  is  usually  restricted  in  its  pur- 
pose to  a  few  well-defined  lines  of  procedure. 

In  corporation  schools  there  cannot  be  the  same  close  adherence 
to  types  that  is  found  in  pubHc-school  systems.  As  a  rule,  each 
corporation  school  is  distinctive  in  its  organization  and  administration 
even  when  intended  for  the  same  general  purpose  as  some  other 
similar  school. 

Perhaps  no  other  feature  of  corporation  school  organization 
presents  more  difhculties  than  the  finding  of  properly  quaUfied 
teachers.  The  ideal  teacher  for  a  corporation  school  is  one  who  has 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  his  subject  with  a  practical  experience  in  it 
and  the  abiUty  to  impart  instruction  intelligently.  He  is  one  who 
can  work  well  in  the  thing  he  teaches  and  who  can  teach  well  the 
thing  in  which  he  has  worked.  He  must  be  of  commanding  and 
forceful  personality  because  with  few  exceptions  the  conditions  he 
has  to  contend  with  in  the  training  of  young  people  in  industry  are  not 
the  normal  conditions  that  are  suited  to  secure  the  best  results  from 
the  student.  The  student  who  has  spent  part  of  his  day  in  physical 
labor  is  apt  to  be  sluggish  in  his  studies  and  indifferent  in  his  mental 
efforts.  Such  teachers  are  difficult  to  find  and  they  command  salaries 
much  above  the  average. 

The  selection  of  good  textbooks  is  of  first  importance  and  is 
of  unusual  difficulty  for  a  corporation  school  owing  to  the  great 
diversity  in  the  subject-matter  of  instruction  desired  and  the 
somewhat  limited  supply  of  texts  that  are  prepared  to  meet  the 
peculiar  requirements  of  the  corporation  school. 

^  The  Proceedings  of  the  Fifth  Anntud  Convention  of  the  National  Associa- 
tion of  Corporation  Schools  contains  a  discussion  of  "Organization  and 
Administration."  The  Proceedings  of  the  Sixth  Annual  Convention,  pp. 
97-127,  contains  a  section  on  the  same  subject.  Ibid.,  pp.  57-82,  contains 
an  excellent  plan  for  viewing  the  same  problems.  An  appraisal  of  corpora- 
tion school  pedagogy  is  attempted  by  A.  J.  Beatty  in  Corporation  Schools. 


356  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

In  a  type  of  education  to  which  general  systems  are  so  ill 
adapted,  the  importance  of  the  educational  director  is  obvious. 
A  number  of  university  and  college  teachers  have  been  drawn 
into  this  form  of  work.  The  duties  of  this  executive  have  been 
described  by  a  corporation-school  committee  to  be:^ 

(a)  To  organize  the  various  curriculums  and  courses  of  study; 
(b)  To  select  the  instructors  for  the  various  departments;  (c)  To 
supervise  and  criticize  the  methods  of  instruction;  (d)  To  aid  the 
instructors  in  developing  text  books  and  lesson-sheets;  (e)  To  adopt 
a  suitable  system  of  records  for  students'  work  which  should  show 
their  industry,  their  progress,  and  attainment;  (/)  To  select  the 
students  for  the  various  courses  and  keep  in  touch  with  the  sources  of 
supply;  (g)  To  keep  the  higher  officials  of  the  company  informed  as 
to  the  needs,  the  efficiency,  the  results,  and  the  expense  of  the  work; 
(h)  To  supervise  the  records  of  the  department  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  show  the  costs  of  the  various  courses,  and  the  various  items  of 
increased  efficiency  in  the  concern  which  may  be  attributed  to  the 
work  of  the  department. 

The  report  continues: 

Such  a  program  as  this  demands  a  man  of  no  small  caliber  and 
his  selection  is  a  task  which  demands  the  most  careful  consideration. 
Unfortunately  the  supply  of  such  high-grade  men  is  not  equal  to  the 
demand  and  many  corporations  have  been  compelled  to  place  their 
educational  work  in  charge  of  men  who  have  not  had  sufficient 
technical  training  in  school  administration  to  guarantee  the  highest 
efficiency. 

Most  of  the  men  who  are  in  charge  of  educational  departments  are 
graduates  of  technical  schools  and  in  the  majority  of  cases  they  are 
men  who  have  been  exceptionally  efficient  in  some  executive  capacity. 
These  qualifications  are  highly  essential  and  no  one  who  has  not  had 
such  technical  training  and  such  shop  experience  should  be  placed  in 
charge  of  an  expensive  educational  plant,  but  technical  and  theoretical 
training  in  school  administration  as  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of 
professional  educators  is  an  invaluable  asset  in  such  a  position. 

The  importance  of  the  educational  director  and  the  need  of 
granting  him  real  power  is  repeatedly  expressed  as  the  basis 

*  Proceedings  of  the  Fourth  Annual  Convention  of  the  National  Association 
of  Corporation  SchoolSj  pp.  100-102. 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  357 

of  solid  success  in  corporation-school  administration.  An 
official  of  the  Norton  Grinding  Company,  for  example,  states 
that  their  educational  department  "consists  of  a  supervisor 
directly  responsible  to  the  general  manager,  an  assistant,  and  an 
advisory  board  consisting  of  nine  men  from  the  management  of 
the  two  companies." 

Mr.  F.  H.  Yoder,  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  expresses 
the  same  view,  declaring: 

The  first  step  is  to  establish  responsibility  in  a  higher  official;  a 
man  with  vision  and  foresight;  a  man  who  would  not  have  to  con- 
sider the  question  of  dollars  and  cents  and  immediate  return  for  all 
money  invested.  Minor  officials  must  of  necessity  keep  down  ex- 
penses in  their  departments,  and  naturally  educational  work  imder 
them  cannot  be  expanded.  If  a  business  depression  arises,  all  work 
not  bringing  inunediate  returns  will  have  to  be  curtailed  in  order  to 
reduce  expenses.  For  this  reason,  it  is  necessary  to  resort  to  a  higher 
official  who  can  look  to  the  future  and  see  the  future  benefits  of  the 
educational  work  to  the  company,  irrespective  of  the  immediate 
conditions.  It  therefore  seems  that  the  first  step  in  the  matter  of 
administration  and  supervision  is  to  estabUsh  your  responsibiUty  in  a 
higher  official. 

The  chart  on  page  358  shows  one  possible  integration  of 
training  in  the  organization  of  a  large  business. 

THE  ROLE  OF  THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL 
What  then  is  the  role  of  this  modern  form  of  education  by 
business  ?    What  is  the  proper  specialized  task  of  the  corpora- 
tion school  in  a  coherent  program  of  education  for  business  ? 

The  corporation  school  is  chiefly  concerned  and  may  be 
expected  to  continue  to  be  concerned  with  those  forms  of 
instruction  which  are  calculated  to  bring  a  profit  to  the  company 
involved.  Although  many  corporation-school  directors  have 
been  actuated  by  broader  motives,  the  corporation  school  is  by 
nature  part  of  a  business  enterprise  and  in  so  far  as  the  school 
cannot  indicate  a  financial  gain  it  involves  a  highly  questionable 
use  of  stockholders'  assets.  As  W.  L.  Chandler,  of  the  Dodge 
Manufacturing  Company,  says:  "Expense  incurred  in  this  way 
can  only  be  justified  on  the  grounds  that  more  profit  can  be  made 


358 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


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THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  359 

with  the  school  than  without  it."  Charles  P.  Steinmetz,  the 
"Wizard"  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  expressed  the 
same  view  in  his  presidential  address  at  the  Third  Annual 
Convention  of  Corporation  Schools.  He  said:  "The  limitation 
of  the  corporation  activities  in  the  educational  and  similar  fields 
is  that  given  by  the  limitation  of  the  corporation  purpose  to 
earn  dividends  for  its  stockholders." 

The  profit  motive  as  the  spirit  of  the  corporation  school  gives 
the  cue  to  its  possibilities  and  to  its  limitations. 

1.  The  corporation  school  is,  in  its  most  organized  form, 
more  or  less  limited  to  large-scale  industries.  The  overhead 
cost  of  the  well-conducted  school  must  be  widely  distributed  to 
justify  the  undertaking.  Indeed  most  of  the  members  of  the 
National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools  have  hundreds  of 
employees.  On  the  other  hand  there  is  large  room  for  the 
development  of  corporation  training  by  small-scale  concerns 
through  trade  associations  or  similar  arrangements.  The 
American  Institute  of  Banking  referred  to  above  is  one  excellent 
illustration  of  a  very  effective  organization  of  this  sort. 

Moreover,  the  most  important  use  of  the  corporation  school 
lies  in  large-scale  industries.  It  is  there  that  the  "general 
knowledge"  of  the  employee  most  needs  special  "pointing." 
It  is  there  that  special  guidance  may  mean  most  for  advance- 
ment. 

An  additional  reason  for  the  affiliation  of  the  corporation 
school  and  large-scale  industry  is  that  in  such  industries  the 
investment  in  training  is  more  likely  to  become  a  permanent 
asset  of  the  company.  Men  are  obviously  less  likely  to  leave 
when  there  is  no  place  to  go,  and  this  is  virtually  the  situation 
when  the  industry  which  has  trained  them  is  monopolistic  or 
holds  a  dominating  position  in  the  field.  Large  industries,  too, 
even  where  vigorous  competition  exists,  are  able  to  instil  a 
loyalty  and  esprit  de  corps,  a  plant  tradition,  which  holds  men. 

2.  The  corporation  school,  because  of  the  profit  motive, 
cannot  be  counted  on  to  give  "general  education"  or  unbiased 
instruction  regarding  social  institutions  such  as  trade  unions, 
governmental  regulation,  and  tariffs;  nor  can  it,  because  of  the 


36o  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

uncertain  loyalty  of  employees,  be  expected  to  make  even  its 
special  training  any  broader  than  necessary. 

The  knowledge  obtained  from  a  general  course  in  marketing 
is  far  more  salable  elsewhere  than  a  course  in  "Our  Sales 
Methods";  "Commercial  Correspondence"  is  a  more  risky 
investment  for  Company  A  to  make  in  an  office-worker  than 
instruction  in  "The  Correspondence  Forms  of  Company  A." 

This  failure  to  give  general  training  is  no  ground  for  criticiz- 
ing the  corporation  school.  It  may  be  worth  while  to  criticize 
the  whole  system  of  private  enterprise  but  hardly  to  pick  at 
such  a  detail. 

3.  Conversely  to  the  above,  the  corporation  school  finds  its 
chief  r61e  in  teaching  the  detailed  technique  of  particular  busi- 
nesses. "  The  corporation  school,"  says  the  educational  director 
of  the  Western  Electric  Company,  "has  come  into  existence 
because  of  the  necessity  for  training  young  men  and  young 
women  to  know  the  details  of  how  to  perform  the  tasks  peculiar 
to  a  particular  business."  In  this  role  the  corporation  school 
can  function  to  social  advantage.  It  is  a  task  which  must  be 
done;  no  other  agency  can  do  it  with  a  comparable  amount  of 
social  resources,  in  fact  no  other  agency  can,  in  some  cases,  do  it 
at  all. 

4.  Finally,  and  perhaps  most  significant  of  all,  is  the  fact 
that,  in  broad  ranges  of  industry,  the  corporation  school  can  he 
counted  on  to  give  instruction  in  technique.  This  is  gratifying 
not  only  because  it  will  be  done  at  less  social  cost  than  otherwise 
but  because  it  rids  other  institutions  of  a  burden  in  many  cases 
too  long  assumed.  It  makes  possible  a  much  greater  extension 
than  has  been  common  heretofore,  either  in  the  secondary 
school  commercial  course  or  in  the  collegiate  school  of  business 
into  the  larger  and  more  general  phases  of  business  and  especially 
into  the  social  aspects  of  enterprise,  concerning  which  the  cor- 
poration school  cannot  be  trusted  to  give  instruction  even  if  it 
wishes  to  do  so. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Dietz,  whose  remarks  on  corporation  training  are 
usually  worth  consideration,  has  placed  the  corporation  school 
rather  aptly  in  his  statement; 


THE  CORPORATION  SCHOOL  361 

Industry's  point  of  view: 

Train  citizens.    Let  the  public  school  do  it. 
Buy  trained  help.     Let  the  other  fellow  do  it. 
Educate  in  business.     It's  our  own  job. 


QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  What  is  a  corporation  school  ?  What  is  the  National  Association 
of  Corporation  Training  ? 

2.  What  chief  types  of  corporation  schools  may  be  distinguished? 
Try  to  have  a  working  notion  of  what  each  of  these  t5^es  is. 

3.  Why  should  a  company  give  an  employee  some  days,  weeks, 
months,  or  years  of  training  while  on  pay  ? 

4.  The  period  of  training  given  by  the  corporation  and  at  the  com- 
pany's expense  appears  to  increase  as  the  prehminary  education 
has  beeil  greater.  Does  this  seem  to  be  borne  out  by  a  study  of 
the  specific  cases  offered  ?    Should  not  the  reverse  be  true  ? 

5.  Corporations  seem  to  have  gone  to  great  effort  to  make  their 
schools  successful.  They  have  co-operated  with  public-school 
agencies,  they  have  given  evening  courses,  they  have  joined 
with  one  another  into  associations  for  education,  they  have  even 
conducted  correspondence  courses  for  their  employees.  Give 
examples  of  the  employment  of  each  of  these  methods. 

6.  The  trade-apprenticeship  school  reminds  one  of  the  old  medieval 
apprenticeship.  Examine  the  description  of  the  school  of  the 
Lakeside  Press.  What  similarities  to  medieval  apprenticeship 
do  you  see  in  this  school  ?    What  dissimilarities  ? 

7.  Is  printing  a  trade  that  lends  itself  more  readily  to  the  appren- 
ticeship type  of  training  than  some  other  occupations?  Give 
examples. 

8.  What  is  the  office-work  school  of  a  corporation  ?  Could  an  office- 
work  school  be  of  any  service  to  the  graduate  of  a  two-year  high- 
school  commercial  course?  of  a  four-year  high-school  commer- 
cial course  ? 

9.  What  is  Dietz's  idea  of  the  way  in  which  a  corporation  school  can 
train  its  correspondents?  Would  the  same  training  be  possible 
in  a  school  ? 

10.  Examine  the  description  of  the  distribution  course  of  the  Ford 
Motor  Company.  What  are  the  chief  divisions  of  this  course? 
Could  not  such  a  course  be  given  in  the  secondary  school  ?  in  a 


362  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

college  ?    Should  such  a  course  be  given  in  the  secondary  school  ? 
in  a  college  ? 

11.  Apply  the  same  queries  asked  above  to  the  course  outlined  for 
the  Eli-LiUy  Company.  If  courses  such  as  these  should  be  given 
in  schools,  why  not  give  courses  that  would  have  a  specific  applica- 
tion to  every  business  establishment  ? 

12.  What  are  the  unique  features  of  the  Curtis  Publishing  Company's 
sales  school  ? 

13.  What  is  the  retail  sales  school  ?  Does  it  seem  to  you  that  retail 
selling  is  the  proper  subject  to  be  taught  in  the  high  school,  in 
the  coUege,  in  the  private  business  school,  in  the  corporation 
school,  or  in  all  of  them  ? 

14.  What  are  the  chief  duties  of  the  education  director  of  a  corpora- 
tion? 

15.  Draw  up  a  statement  that  seems  to  you  adequately  to  express  the 
place  of  a  corporation  school  in  an  organized  scheme  of  education. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS 

Collegiate  schools  of  business  in  the  United  States  have 
taken  two  forms.  Although  it  is  with  only  one  of  these  forms 
that  we  are  to  concern  ourselves  to  any  extent,  a  word  in 
passing  should  be  said  concerning  the  other.  One  type  of 
collegiate  school  of  business  is  the  technical  school,  or  institute 
of  technology;  the  other  may  appropriately  be  called  the 
collegiate  school  of  commerce.  Each  of  these  types  of  school 
sprang  more  or  less  from  the  economic  condition  of  the  time 
which  saw  its  beginning. 

The  capacity  of  the  market  to  absorb  goods  has  generally 
exceeded  the  ability  of  manufacturers  to  produce  them.  This  at 
least  was  true  from  the  introduction  of  power-driven  machinery  into 
English  industry  imtil  the  closing  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Pressure  of  demand  made  it  unnecessary  for  the  business  man  to 
devote  his  time  to  searching  out  unformulated  needs.^ 

Such  pressure  of  demand,  however,  did  put  an  emphasis  on 
production.  This  emphasis  upon  production  of  manufactured 
goods  furnished  a  proper  atmosphere  for  the  study  of  science, 
pure  and  applied,  and  consequently  upon  the  growth  of  institutes 
of  technology.  In  1824  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute 
was  founded,  followed  in  1847  by  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School 
at  Yale,  and  in  1848  by  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School  at 
Harvard.  The  really  rapid  growth  of  schools  of  appHed  science 
and  engineering,  however,  came  following  the  Civil  War,  when 
between  1870  and  1890  some  twenty  schools  of  first  rank  were 
estabUshed  either  as  departments  of  universities  or  as  separate 
institutions.  In  1862  the  Morrill  Act  brought  the  aid  of  public 
land  grants  to  state  colleges,  giving  special  support  to  the  teach- 
ing of  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts.     This  act  supple- 

'  A.  W.  Shaw,  An  Approach  to  Business  Problems,  p.  104.  Harvard 
University  Press,  1916. 

363 


364  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

men  ted  by  the  so-called  Second  Morrill  Act  of  1890  is  said  to 
have  been  responsible  for  the  establishment,  by  19 15,  of  sixty- 
seven  institutions  giving  instruction  to  69,000  students. 

Leaving  the  institutes  of  technology  with  this  brief  state- 
ment, we  find  that  a  change  in  economic  conditions  may  be 
thought  of  as  responsible  for  the  new  interest  in  education  of 
collegiate  grade  deaHng  with  selUng,  advertising,  traffic,  and 
other  social  adjustments,  rather  than  with  the  technique  of 
production. 

Only  in  recent  years,  when  the  development  of  production  has 
potentially  outstripped  the  available  market  and  shifted  the  emphasis 
to  distribution,  has  the  manufacturer-merchant  become  a  pioneer 
on  the  frontier  of  human  desires  and  needs. 

Today  the  progressive  business  man  makes  careful,  intensive 
studies  not  merely  of  the  consumer's  recognized  wants  but  of  his 
tastes,  his  habits,  his  tendencies  in  all  the  common  activities  and 
relations  of  life.  This  he  does  in  order  to  track  down  unconscious 
needs,  to  manufacture  goods  to  satisfy  them,  to  bring  these  products 
to  the  attention  of  the  consumer  in  the  most  appealing  ways,  and 
finally  to  complete  the  cycle  by  transporting  the  goods  to  him  in 
response  to  an  expressed  demand.  His  problem  is  chiefly  one  of 
adjustment.  He  must  bend  the  materials  and  forces  of  nature  to 
the  end  of  human  service.  And,  most  difficult  task  of  all,  he  must 
shape  his  making  and  selling  policies  alike  to  satisfy  contradictory 
conditions  and  methods  and  to  employ  without  waste  the  divergent 
and  overlapping  agencies  through  which  present-day  distribution  is 
carried  on.' 

It  is,  then,  the  schools  which  have  been  founded  to  train  men 
for  working  in  these  fields  of  *' adjustment'*  in  "making  and 
shaping  policies"  that  have  come  to  be  called  collegiate  schools 
of  business,  and  it  is  with  such  schools  that  this  chapter  is 
concerned. 

THE   FIRST  COLLEGIATE   SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE 

The  first  institution  in  the  United  States  to  offer  a  profes- 
sional training  in  business  of  collegiate  grade  was  the  Wharton 
School  of  Finance  and  Economy  of  the  University  of  Penn- 

» A.  W.  Shaw,  op.  cit.,  p.  104. 


COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS  365 

sylvania.  This  school  was  founded  in  1881  by  Mr.  Joseph 
Wharton,  a  wealthy  citizen  of  Philadelphia.  It  was  his  desire 
that  the  school  should  provide  faciUties  for  "education  in  the 
principles  underlying  successful  civil  government''  as  well  as 
"training  suitable  for  those  who  intend  to  engage  in  business 
or  to  undertake  the  management  of  property." 

At  the  time  of  its  inception,  the  course  was  two  years  in 
length,  requiring  as  prerequisite  training  two  years  in  the  general 
arts  college  course.  Its  curriculum  consisted  largely  of  political 
economy,  poUtical  science,  accounting,  mercantile  law.  and 
practice.  The  student  completing  the  course  received  a  Bache- 
lor's degree.  Below  is  given  the  course  of  study  offered  by  the 
Wharton  School  in  the  academic  year  1881-82:' 

Course  of  Study 
sub-junior  year 

Social  Science. — ^E.  Peshine  Smith's  Political  Economy.  Thomp- 
son's National  Economy.     Johnston's  History  of  American  Politics. 

Mercantile  Practice. — Oral  instruction  in  business  procedure,  in 
the  management  of  trusts,  and  in  the  routine  of  banking. 

English. — Chaucer  {The  Canterbury  Tales).  Spencer.  Shak- 
spere  (Several  Plays  Illustrating  the  Growth  of  the  Dramatist's 
Mind  and  x\rt.)     Compositions  and  Declamations. 

German. — ^Lessing's  Nathan  der  Weise.    Der  Mensch  und  die  Natur. 

French.— RsLcine  or  Corneille. 

Physics. — Mechanics,  including  Hydrostatics,  Pneumatics  and 
Sound. 

Mineralogy. — General  description  of  Minerals  and  Crystallog- 
raphy. 

Latin  (Elective  with  Drawing). — Smith's  Principia  Latina, 
Part  I.     Caesar  (De  Bello  Gallico). 

Drawing  (Elective  with  Latin). — Free-Hand  Drawing,  and  Draw- 
ing from  the  Flat. 

JUNIOR  YEAR 

Social  Science. — ^History  and  Functions  of  Money.  International 
Balance  of  Trade.  Theory  and  Practice  of  Banking.  The  Credit  Sys- 
tem.   Monetary  Crises  and  Panics.    The  Stock  and  Bond  Market. 

'From  a  statement  furnished  by  Emory  R.  Johnson,  dean  of  the 
Wharton  School. 


366  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Social  Science.  Municipal  State  and  National  Taxation.  The 
Management  of  Revenue.  Sinking  Funds.  Methods  of  Taxation, 
and  Their  Moral  and  Social  Influence.  (Direct  and  Indirect  Taxes, 
Land  Taxes,  Taxes  on  Corporations,  Internal  Revenue,  Taxes,  and 
Duties  on  Imports.)  The  Relation  of  Wars  and  Military  Systems, 
through  Taxation,  to  National  Industry.  The  Handling  of  Public 
Debts. 

.  Industry,  Commerce  and  Transportation.  The  Na- 
tional Necessity  for  a  Balance  of  the  Great  Industries.  National 
Self-Defence  in  the  Development  of  the  Industries. 

.    Wage  Questions.     The  Relations  of  Capital  and  Labor. 

Strikes  and  Lock  Outs.    Harmony  and  Discord. 

Mental  and  Moral  Science. — ^Atwater's  Logic.  Whewell's  Ele- 
ments of  Morality. 

English. — Compositions  and  Declamations. 

Geology. — ^Elements  of  Geology.  Descriptive  and  Determinative 
Mineralogy.     Metallurgy. 

Physics. — ^Heat  and  Light. 

Latin. — Cicero's  Epistolae,  De  Senectute,  etc.  (Long's  edition). 
Virgil's  Georgics. 

German. — Schiller's  Wilhelm  Tell.  Goethe's  Hermann  and  Doro- 
thea.   Translations  into  German.    Whitney's  German  Grammar. 

French. — Moliere. 

SENIOR   YEAR 

Law. — ^Elementary  Law.  Mercantile  Law  (Law  of  Partnership. 
Law  of  Common  Carrier.  License  Laws.  Land  Laws,  etc.,  etc.). 
Constitutional  Law  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  Commonwealth 
of  Pennsylvania.  The  Rules  of  Order  in  Public  and  Corporation 
Meetings. 

Social  Science. — ^Lectures  on  Living  Issues  (Land,  Labor,  Mone- 
tary Questions  in  Their  Popular  Aspects,  Socialism  and  Communism, 
Free  Trade  and  Protections,  Charity  Organization,  Popular  and 
Industrial  Education). 

.     Mulford's  Nation. 

.  Original  Research  in  the  Theory  and  History  of  Eco- 
nomical Questions,  under  direction  of  the  Professor. 

History. — ^Lectures  on  Modem  and  Mediaeval  History.  Guizot's 
History  oj  Civilization  in  Europe. 

English. — Compositions  and  Declamations. 


COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS  367 

Physics. — Electricity.     Practical  and  Astronomical  Physics. 

A  stronomy. — Mathematical  Astronomy. 

Note. — Candidates  who  have  passed  through  the  Freshman  and 
Sophomore  Classes  in  either  the  Department  of  Arts  or  the  Towne 
Scientific  School,  will  be  admitted  as  full  students  without 
examinations. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Wharton  School  there  was  the 
difficulty  which  might  be  expected  from  the  assignment  to  the 
teaching  of  technical  subjects  of  men  who  had  been  trained  for 
academic  work  and  who  had  neither  interest  nor  experience  in 
the  specialized  fields.  In  1894  the  program  of  the  school  was 
broadened,  a  more  specialized  faculty  was  introduced,  and  the 
number  of  years  in  the  course  was  increased  from  two  to  four.^ 
The  bulletin  for  1922  shows  the  following  for  the  general  course 
which  is  of  interest  by  way  of  comparison  with  the  earlier  one: 

Course  Requirements 

freshman  year 

(The  following  courses  are  required  of  all  Freshmen.) 

Hours  per 
Week 

Physical  Education 2 

Composition 2 

English  Language  (first  term) 1 

History  of  Enghsh  Literature  (second  term) / 

Elementary  Accounting 3 

Business  Law 

or 

General  Inorganic  Chemistry 

Principles  of  Economics 3 

Resources  and  Industries  of  the  U.S .       3 

Government 3 

ADDITIONAL  REQUIRED  WORK 

Before  the  end  of  the  Junior  year: 
Two  additional  units  of  PoHtical  Science,  or  Economics,  or  two 

imits  of  Sociology. 
Three  units  of  History. 
One  additional  unit  of  Physical  Education. 

» Roswell  McCrea,  "The  Work  of  the  Wharton  School  of  Finance  and 
Commerce."  Journal  of  PoHtical  Economy,  XXI  (1913),  iii. 


368  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Before  graduation: 

Six  units  of  foreign  language  (not  elementary  courses) 

or 
Three  units  of  foreign  language  (not  elementary  courses)   and 

three  units  of  Science  or  Mathematics. 
Two  additional  units  of  History. 
One  additional  unit  of  Physical  Education. 
Two  units  of  Senior  Research  work. 

The  satisfactory  completion  of  a  total  of  seventy  units  of  work, 
in  addition  to  Physical  Education,  is  required  for  the  degree.  (A 
"unit"  of  work  is  the  amoimt  involved  in  attendance  upon  lectures 
or  recitations  one  hour  a  week  for  one  year,  or  upon  laboratory  work 
two  hours  a  week  for  one  year.) 

These  seventy  imits  are  distributed  as  follows: 

Wharton  School  subjects 44 

College  subjects  required 17 

Free  electives  in  either  Wharton  School  or  College  subjects 9 

Course  Groupings 

Prior  to  registration  for  the  Sophomore  year  each  student  is 
required  to  elect  one  of  the  following  groups  of  courses: 

The  General  Course 
sophomore  year 

Hours 
a  Week 

Physical  Education 2 

Composition  (one  term) 1 

Nineteenth  Century  Novelists  (one  term) J 

History  or  Foreign  Language  (see  note) 3 

Political  Science,  Economics,  or  Sociology 2 

Money  and  Credit 3 

Three  of  the  following: 

Accoimting  2  or  7.     Accounting 

C.&T.  5.  Transportation 

Insurance  i  or  3.       Insurance 

G.&I.  7.  Manufacturing 

Electives 2-3 


COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS  369 

JUNIOR   YEAR 

Hours 
a  Week 

Physical  Education 2 

Foreign  Language 3 

History 2-3 

English— An  advanced  course  (not  included  in  Wharton  units) 

(one  term) 2 

Nine  units  chosen  from  three  of  the  following: 

Commerce  and  Transportation 

Finance 

Insurance 

•  Geography  and  Industry 

Merchandising 

Business  Law  2  or  3 

Electives,  maximum  5  hours , 5 

SENIOR   YEAR 

Physical  Education 2 

Research • 2 

History  or  Foreign  Language,  according  to  the  Uncompleted 
History  or  Language  requirement  at  the  end  of  Junior 

year  (see  note) 2-3 

Public  Finance  (first  term  required;  second  term  elective) ...       2 
Three  units  chosen  from  the  following: 

Commerce  and  Transportation 

Geography  and  Industry , 

Finance 

Merchandising 

Electives  (minimum  3  hours) 3  ^ 

Note. — Six  imits  of  advanced  Foreign  Language  are  required 
before  graduation.  Students  are  advised  to  take  these  in  the  Sopho- 
more and  Junior  years,  if  possible.  After  completing  three  advanced 
imits  of  such  language  the  students  may  substitute  a  three-unit  course 
in  Science  or  Mathematics  for  the  remaining  three  units  of  Language. 

In  January,  1898,  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  California 
determined  to  establish  a  College  of  Commerce  in  that  institu- 
tion. Formal  opening  occurred  in  the  fall  term  of  that  year. 
The  four  years'  course  consisted  of  about  one-half  of  the  type 
of  the  studies  given  in  general  college  courses  and  of  about 


370  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

one-haK  of  courses  in  the  fields  of  philosophy,  law,  politics, 
economics,  geography,  technology,  mathematics.  It  was  stated 
that  "this  college  is  intended  to  afford  an  opportunity  for  the 
scientific  study  of  commerce  in  aU  its  relations  and  for  the 
higher  education  of  business  men  and  of  the  higher  officers  of 
the  civil  service."^  In  addition  to  the  underlying  courses  a 
number  of  special  ones  in  narrower  fields  were  offered. 

On  October  i  of  the  same  year,  President  Harper,  of  the 
University  of  Chicago,  in  his  twenty-fifth  quarterly  statement 
said,  "It  is  with  a  feeling  of  great  satisfaction  that  I  may 
announce  the  inauguration  during  the  past  quarter  of  the  College 
of  Commerce  and  Politics."^  President  Harper  stated  further 
that  the  inauguration  of  the  College  of  Commerce  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  was  distinguished  from  similar  undertakings 
elsewhere  by  the  fact  that  the  work  "should  be  organized  as  a 
college  and  administered  as  such." 

In  1900  Dartmouth  College,  New  York  University,  and  the 
University  of  Wisconsin  opened  schools  of  business.  The  next 
year  such  a  school  was  organized  at  the  University  of  Michigan. 
No  other  school  gave  what  would  now  be  considered  collegi- 
ate business  work  until  1908.  A  number  of  state  universities 
earher  than  this  put  in  "commercial  courses."  The  cata- 
logue of  the  University  of  the  State  of  Missouri  for  1897-98 
states  that  instruction  is  given  in  correspondence,  writing 
receipts,  checks,  notes,  and  drafts,  and  that  a  full  course  in 
stenography  is  provided  for  those  students  who  wish  to  carry 
on  this  study.  The  University  of  South  Dakota  early  offered 
courses  in  penmanship,  commercial  law,  shorthand,  type- 
writing, and  office  practice.  Similar  courses  were  common  in 
western  universities  before  1900. 

Schools  of  business  in  colleges  and  universities  were  founded 
most  rapidly  following  19 10,  there  being  scarcely  a  year  since 
that  time  when  one  or  more  higher  institutions  of  standing 
did  not  announce  the  inauguration  of  such  a  school.     Between 

^U.S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Report  of  Commissioner,  II  (1897-98), 
2443. 

^Ibid.,  p.  2444. 


COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS 


371 


1900  and  19 18  a  number  of  *' conferences  "  were  held  by  delegates 
of  universities  having  schools  of  business.  On  November  13^ 
19 19,  at  Harvard  University,  there  was  held  the  first  program 
meeting  of  the  Association  of  Collegiate  Schools  of  Business.^ 
Prior  to  this  meeting  the  schools  of  fifteen  of  the  leading  uni- 
versities had  associated  themselves  as  charter  members.  The 
membership  now  numbers  twenty- three  schools  (May  i,  1922). 

25 


IS 


10 


A 

h 

/ 

1 

t 

/ 

/ 

lilt 

?    ?    ■?    f    ; 

\    \ 

*               < 

^          ( 

3                  H 

H           e 

>        c 
■4         t- 

Fig.  27. — Increase  in  number  of  collegiate  schools  of  business*  from 
1881  to  1921. 

♦Yale  University,  which  discontinued  its  course  in  Business  Administration  in  iq2o-2i, 
is  not  included. 


The  number  of  schools  of  business  founded  in  various  years 
is  shown  in  Figure  4,  on  page  15,  and  need  not  be  repeated  here. 
The  increase  in  numbers  of  schools  and  of  students  and  the 
relation  which  the  number  of  students  bears  to  the  total  col- 

^  The  organization  meeting  was  held  at  the  University  Club  of  Chicago, 
June  16  and  17,  1916. 


372 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


legiate  undergraduates  are  presented,  however.  A  period  of 
twenty-five  years  includes  the  Hfe  of  all  of  the  collegiate  schools 
of  business  excepting  the  Wharton  School. 

Figure  27  shows  the  increase  in  number  of  collegiate  schools 
of  business  and  makes  clear  the  impetus  which  came  in  the 
development  of  such  schools  after  1910. 


Fig.  28. — Increase  in  number  of  undergraduate  students  (men  and 
women)  in  day  courses  of  collegiate  schools  of  business  from  1896  to  1921. 


In  the  data  on  which  the  diagrams  are  based,  only  institu- 
tions which  are  members  of  the  National  Association  of  Col- 
legiate Schools  of  Business  are  included.  There  are  other 
collegiate  schools  of  business  which,  on  a  basis  of  quality, 
have  equal  right   to  inclusion,  but  an  excluding  line  drawn 


COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS 


373 


on   anything   but   an  arbitrary  basis  would  be  difficult  and 
irritating. 

Figure  28  shows  the  increase  in  number  of  undergraduate 
students  in  day  courses  of  collegiate  schools  of  business  for  the 
years  indicated.  In  making  this  diagram  pre-commerce  stu- 
dents were  included  in  those  schools  where  such  control  was 


100% 

75% 
So% 

25% 

0% 

III 

II 

1 

1 

00 


o 


Fig.  29. — Ratio  for  the  indicated  years  between  undergraduate  stu- 
dents in  collegiate  schools  of  business  and  other  undergraduates  in  the 
institutions  maintaining  such  schools. 


exercised  over  them  as  to  make  them,  to  all  practical  purposes, 
members  of  the  collegiate  school.  Government  students  are 
not  included.  In  this  diagram  again  only  members  of  the 
National  Association  of   Collegiate  Schools  of  Business  are 


374  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

30% 


vO 

,_, 

vO 

,_, 

VO 

M 

0 

0 

0 

M 

N 

00 

ON 

0 

0 

Ox 

Ox 

Fig.  2gA. — Variations  for  the  indicated  years  in  the  relation  between 
business  students  and  other  undergraduates  in  universities  maintaining 
such  schools. 


COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS  375 

considered.  New  York  University,  Harvard,  and  Yale  are 
not  included.  The  first  because  it  proved  impossible  to  secure 
figures  differentiating  day  from  evening  schools  except  at  the 
present  time,  the  second  because  its  strictly  graduate  quality 
seemed  to  make  the  figures  incomparable,  and  the  last  because 
Yale  has  abandoned  its  so-called  school  of  business  administra- 
tion. 

Figure  29  shows  for  the  indicated  years  the  relation  between 
the  number  of  students  in  collegiate  schools  of  business  and  the 
number  of  all  other  undergraduate  students  in  the  same  uni- 
versities. The  same  exceptions  made  concerning  Figure  28 
apply  to  Figures  29  and  29^.  Figure  29^  is  constructed  to 
emphasize  the  variations  in  the  relation  between  business 
students  and  other  undergraduates  in  the  universities  con- 
sidered. By  limiting  the  chart  to  the  lower  30  per  cent,  the 
variations  are  more  obvious  than  in  Figure  29. 

IDEALS   UNDERLYING   COLLEGLA.TE   SCHOOLS   OF  BUSINESS 

Those  responsible  for  directing  the  leading  schools  of  com- 
merce have,  ever  since  the  movement  gathered  momentum, 
conceived  the  functions  of  these  schools  in  broad  terms.  There 
prevails  the  idea  that  it  is  the  duty  of  such  schools  to  hberalize 
as  well  as  to  train.  More  than  this,  there  is  the  persistent 
notion  that  there  must  come  from  collegiate  business  schools  a 
better  culture  and  an  extension  of  culture  into  realms  of  life 
where  it  is  now  too  little  known.  "AU  who  are  concerned, 
through  investigation  or  instruction,  with  the  present  movement 
for  placing  new  departments  of  industrial  activity  upon  a  scien- 
tific basis,  in  the  interest  of  greater  efficiency,  and  of  more  just 
and  liberal  ideals,  should  appreciate  the  high  calling  whereunto 
they  are  called."'  This  statement  made  in  191 3  was  but  an 
echo  of  that  made  nearly  twenty  years  ago  when  at  a  conference 
of  educators  and  business  men  called  at  the  University  of 

'  Edward  D.  Jones,  "Some  Propositions  Concerning  University  Instruc- 
tion in  Business  Administration,"  Journal  of  Political  Economy,  XXI 
(1913),  194. 


376  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Michigan  to  consider  the  purposes  of  higher  commercial  edu- 
cation, Professor  William  A.  Scott  said:' 

There  is  another  aspect  of  this  question  which  must  not  be  over- 
looked. How  can  a  university  best  impress  its  ideals  upon  society  ? 
By  cutting  itself  off  from  the  most  active  departments  of  social  life, 
by  surrounding  the  young  people  placed  in  it^  charge  with  an  atmos- 
phere entirely  different  from  that  of  the  world  in  which  they  must 
live,  or  by  opening  wide  its  doors  to  all  classes  of  students  who  are 
fitted  to  enter,  and  by  striving  to  give  them  every  possible  assistance 
in  the  preparation  of  themselves  for  the  specific  careers  they  expect 
to  follow  ?  This  latter  course  compels  university  professors  to  make 
a  careful  study  of  the  actual  Hfe  about  them,  to  classify  the  phenom- 
ena of  the  actual  world,  and  to  reduce  them  to  a  scientific  form.  It 
gives  them  an  opportunity  to  discover  how  high  social,  moral  and 
religious  ideals  can  be  introduced  into  the  Ufe  of  society,  and  to 
impress  upon  the  young  people  placed  under  their  charge  the  impor- 
tance of  those  ideals,  and  the  dangers  to  which  they  will  be  exposed 
in  the  careers  they  propose  to  enter.  For  my  part,  I  cannot  under- 
stand how  an  unprejudiced  student  of  the  relations  between  civiliza- 
tion and  education  can  possibly  desire  the  universities  to  hold  them- 
selves aloof  from  the  pulsing  Ufe  of  the  present  day.  It  seems  to  me 
that  the  movement  which  has  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  tech- 
nical schools  of  aU  grades  in  connection  with  our  universities  is  one 
of  the  most  hopeful  and  encouraging  of  our  time.  To  me  it  means 
that  the  power  of  our  universities  is  increasing,  that  they  are  strength- 
ening rather  than  loosening  their  grip  upon  the  people  and  the 
country,  that  the  cause  of  culture  is  safe,  and  that  the  highest  educa- 
tional ideals  have  a  better  chance  of  survival  than  ever  before  in 
our  history.  The  refusal  of  our  universities  to  establish  schools  of 
commerce  and  other  technical  schools,  which  belong  to  the  college 
grade  of  development,  I  should  deprecate  as  a  great  misfortune. 
It  would  mean  a  relative  increase  in  the  power  and  influence  of 
institutions  established  for  private  gain  and  permeated  by  a  narrow, 
selfish  spirit,  and  a  rapid  diminution  in  the  interest  which  young  men 
and  the  most  active  and  influential  elements  of  society  now  feel  in 
our  colleges  and  universities.    I  believe  that  the  highest  interests  of 

'  Adapted  from  William  A.  Scott,  "The  Place  of  Commercial  Studies 
in  the  College  or  University  Curriculum,"  Publications  of  the  Michigan 
Science  Association,  V  (1902-4),  53-54. 


COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS  377 

society  can  be  trusted  with  safety  to  the  faculties  and  governing 
boards  of  our  college  and  universities. 

Such  liberal  sentiments  still  find  favor  with  those  persons 
concerned  with  determining  the  policies  of  collegiate  schools  of 
business.  In  attempting  to  outline  the  function  of  a  school  of 
business  in  a  university  in  1920,  Dean  Hotchkiss  expressed  these 
views  :^ 

A  collegiate  school  of  business  is  assumed  in  this  discussion  to 
be  a  school  that  has  its  setting  in  a  college  or  university.  The  fact 
of  such  a  setting  carries  certain  implications  which  necessarily  must 

influence  our  discussion These  ideas  may  be  indicated  by  the 

words  "public  responsibility,"  "educational  sequence,"  "scientific 
content,"  "professional  aim,"  "vision." 

Public  responsibility. — Collegiate  education,  whether  general  or 
professional,  and  whether  supported  by  the  state,  or  by  private 
endowment,  is  a  public  function,  and  it  owes  its  first  duty  to  the  public 
Schools  of  business  are  in  no  different  situation  in  this  regard  from 
schools  of  law,  medicine,  or  engineering.  Their  first  dut>'  is  a  func- 
tion of  the  national  life. 

Educational  sequence. — Relationship  to  an  educational  system 
means  that  education  for  business  is  not  a  thing  by  itself;  it  is  some- 
thing to  be  articulated  with  the  framework  of  higher  education;  it 
must  begin  somewhere  and  end  somewhere;  it  must  be  a  part  of  a 
system.  Doubtless  the  business  curriculum  will  have  some  influence, 
possibly  a  large  influence,  on  the  system;  and  we  need  to  use  this 
influence  to  make  the  system  more  nearly  what  we  think  it  should  be; 
at  any  given  time,  however,  we  shall  have  to  fit  our  curriculmn  into 
the  system  as  we  find  it. 

Scientific  content. —  ....  In  order  to  have  proper  scientific 
content  a  business  curriculum  must  be  so  organized  as  to  carr>'  the 
student  through  basic  analytical  processes  in  which  the  fundamental 
principles  of  business  organization  and  management  wiU  be  set 
forth.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  clear  that  the  task  of  developing 
analytical  power  cannot  proceed  with  great  efficiency  unless  our 
efforts  are  put  forth  on  really  live  material.  It  is  not  then  a  question 
of  discipline  rather  than  information,  but  a  question  of  discipline 

» Adapted  from  Willard  E.  Hotchkiss,  "The  Basic  Elements  and  Their 
Proper  Balance  in  the  Curriculum  of  a  Collegiate  Business  School,"  Journal 
0}  Political  Economy,  XXVIII  (1920),  89-^1. 


378  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

through  information.  This  means,  I  think,  that  our  curriculum 
should  be  so  organized  that  the  basic  facts  of  business  wiU  be  intro- 
duced in  an  orderly  and  systematic  way  as  subject-matter  for  analysis 
and  not  as  matters  of  pure  informational  interest 

Professional  aim. — ^Analysis  of  business  data  may  have  a  purely 
research  aim.  Professional  training  is  directed  toward  activity. 
Before  there  can  be  orderly  and  well-considered  business  activity 
the  results  of  analysis  must  be  brought  together  into  working  plans 
for  dispatching  business,  for  exercising  control,  and  for  achieving 

definite  business   results Roughly   stated,    the  professional 

purpose  of  the  collegiate  business  school  is  to  give  the  foundation 
training  for  managers,  business  experts,  and  all  those  whose  function 
it  is  to  develop  and  execute  working  plans  in  business. 

Vision. — ^The  subject-matter  of  education  is  drawn  from  the 
past,  but  education  itself  must  look  to  the  future.     This  is  peculiarly 

true  of  education  for  business Obviously  the  effort  to  build 

a  curriculum  on  prophecy  involves  some  danger.  If  we  project  our- 
selves so  far  into  the  future  that  we  lose  contact  with  the  present 
we  are  likely  to  substitute  speculation  for  fact  and  leave  our  course 
floating  in  air.  But  a  greater  danger  than  this  is  the  danger  of  stand- 
ing still  or  looking  backward.  The  presence  of  experimental  courses, 
courses  which  carry  the  curriculimi  beyond  the  present  established 
frontiers,  is  perhaps  the  most  tangible  indication  of  vision  and  the 
surest  guaranty  of  preventing  a  course  of  study  from  getting  behind 
the  times. 

A  somewhat  more  concrete  conception  of  the  social  utility 
of  a  collegiate  school  of  business  may  be  made.  Such  schools 
can  train  for  management.  That  is,  they  can  provide  men  able 
to  correlate  the  work  of  the  innumerable  specialists  of  our  soci- 
ety. xAs  long  as  we  make  use  of  specialization  this  is  vital,  and 
the  usefulness  of  institutions  which  can  produce  such  correlators 
will  be  unquestioned. 

CLASSES  OF  SCHOOLS 

Not  every  collegiate  school  of  business  has  been  able  to  put 
into  practical  form  such  broad  and  general  ideals  as  have  been 
recited  above.  Some  have  not  been  in  a  position  to  apply 
them.  The  curricula  of  the  latter  schools  is  often  largely  a 
collection  of  business  subjects  adapted  to  the  immediate  prac- 


COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS  379 

tical  needs  of  the  students.  One  should  hesitate,  however,  to 
criticize  such  schools  unduly.  In  large  cities,  especially  in 
evening  courses,  such  curricula  render  a  unique  and  valuable 
service.  Almost  every  phase  of  the  curriculum  problem  of  these 
schools  is  different  from  that  of  the  school  offering  a  full-time 
course  to  undergraduates  who  expect  to  work  forward  to  a 
degree. 

Even  among  the  full-time  day  schoqls,  however,  there  is 
still  much  to  be  done  in  the  way  of  curriculum  organization. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  point  out  instances  where  "courses  deaUng 
with  business"  rather  than  "balanced  curriculum"  are  offered. 
On  the  other  hand  some  outstanding  instances  of  a  philosophy 
for  building  a  curriculum  are  to  be  found.  One  statement  of 
such  a  philosophy  is  that  made  by  H.  S.  Person  as  follows:' 

During  the  more  than  fifteen  years  of  our  efforts  at  the  Tuck 
School  we  have  been  searching  for  the  elements  of  a  curriculum 
which  are  basic  in  the  sense  that  they  relate  to  elements  in  biLsiness 
which  are  universal  in  all  business.  We  have  come  to  believe  that 
the  differences  between  businesses  which  are  ordinarily  note  d  —that 
one  manufactures  or  distributes  shoes  and  another  sugar;  that  one 
fashions  or  deals  in  tangible  commodities  and  another  offers  services — 
are  superficial  from  the  educational  point  of  view.  Attention  to 
these  differences  is  essential  but  too  much  should  not  be  made  of 
them.  A  curriculum,  the  elements  of  which  are  determined  by  a 
consideration  of  these  superficial  differences,  is  likely  to  develop 
limitations  in  the  graduate  rather  than  give  him  professional  freedom 
and  power.  Have  you  ever  considered  the  fact  that  it  is  an  excep- 
tional student  who  knows  until  the  time  of  graduation  what  business 
he  is  going  to  enter,  and  that  the  businesses  most  students  enter  are 
determined  largely  by  the  opportunities  presented  at  the  last  moment; 
also  that  five  years  after  graduation  the  majority  of  graduates  are  no 
longer  in  the  businesses  they  entered  at  graduation?  These  are 
significant  facts.  The  inevitable  conclusion  is  that  the  object  of 
training  for  business  should  be  the  development  in  the  individual  of 

^  Adapted  from  discussion  by  H.  S.  Person  of  Willard  E.  Hotchkiss, 
"The  Basic  Elements  and  Their  Proper  Balance  in  the  Curriculum  of  a 
Collegiate  Business  School,"  Journal  of  Political  Economy,  XXVIII  (1920), 
109-12. 


38o 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


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COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS  381 

universal  and  transferable  professional  business  ability.  That  alone 
will  give  him  freedom  and  power  and  make  him  master  of  his 
career. 

If  we  can  find  the  elements  which  are  common  to  all  business, 
we  have  made  a  start  toward  determining  what  the  profession  de- 
mands as  the  basic  elements  in  our  curricula.  I  shall  take  the  liberty 
of  suggesting  diagrammatically  a  method  of  approach  to  the  determina- 
tion of  the  common  elements.  Let  us  draw  in  skeleton  form  a  typical 
functional  organization  chart  (p.  381).  It  may  apply  in  principle  to  a 
manufacturing  plant,  a  department  store,  a  railroad,  a  firm  of  lawyers, 
a  hospital — any  organization  for  purposive  collective  activity.  Upon 
this  skeleton  organization  chart  we  superimpose  horizontal  lines  which 
divide  the  activities  of  the  organization  into  broad  functional  zones. 
These  zones  also  hold  for  any  business.  Now  we  have  a  start,  for 
we  observe  that  every  business  demands  in  the  large  three  kinds  of 
professional  skill:  the  abihty  to  determine  large  governing  policy 
(administrative  or  entrepreneur  policy);  the  ability  to  determine 
operating  policy  and  to  control  operations  (management) ;  the  ability 
to  carry  out  operating  policy  (routine  operations).  While  the  am- 
bition of  the  individual  is  to  become,  through  education,  training,  and 
experience,  a  master  successively  in  Zones  I,  II,  and  III,  there  is  no  pre- 
sumption that  the  elements  of  our  curricula  should  be  determined  by 
giving  equal  weight  to  the  requirements  of  these  zones.  It  seems  to 
me  that  general  education,  experience,  and  the  professional  training 
of  the  school  of  business  have  respectively  a  definite  relation  to 
the  development  of  skill  in  some  one  of  these  zones  more  than  in 
another. 

With  Zone  I  (the  zone  of  routine  operations),  in  which  the  gradu- 
ates of  our  schools  begin  their  careers,  I  believe  "experience"  is  most 
concerned.  Speaking  broadly,  and  not  without  some  reservation, 
(e.g.,  accounting,  technique  of  foreign  trade,  etc.),  I  do  not  believe 
our  schools  should  attempt  to  teach  the  routine  of  any  particular 
business. 

Another  example  of  an  underlying  idea  and  one  upon  which 
an  extended  experiment  in  curriculum-building  is  being  carried 
on,  is  that  to  be  found  in  the  School  of  Commerce  and  Adminis- 
tration of  the  University  of  Chicago.^ 

'  This  statement  is  adapted  from  the  Preface  to  L.  C.  Marshall,  Business 
Administration,  pp.  vii-ix.    University  of  Chicago  Press,  1921.    A  some- 


382  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

....  The  business  executive  administers  his  business  under 
conditions  imposed  by  his  environment,  both  physical  and  social. 
The  student  should  accordingly  have  an  understanding  of  the  physical 
environment.  This  justifies  attention  to  the  earth  sciences.  He 
should  also  have  an  understanding  of  the  social  environment  and 
must  accordingly  give  attention  to  civics,  law,  economics,  social 
psychology,  and  other  branches  of  the  social  sciences.  His  knowledge 
of  environment  should  not  be  too  abstract  in  character.  It  should 
be  given  practical  content,  and  should  be  closely  related  to  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  internal  problems  of  management.  This  may  be  accom- 
plished through  a  range  of  courses  dealing  with  business  administra- 
tion wherein  the  student  may  become  acquainted  with  such  matters 
as  the  measuring  aids  of  control,  the  communicating  aids  of  control, 
organization  policies  and  methods;  the  manager's  relation  to  produc- 
tion, to  labor,  to  finance,  to  technology,  to  risk-bearing,  to  the  market, 
to  social  control,  etc.  Business  is,  after  all,  a  pecuniarily  organized 
scheme  of  gratifying  human  wants,  and,  properly  understood,  falls 
little  short  of  being  as  broad,  as  inclusive,  as  life  itself  in  its  motives, 
aspirations,  and  social  obligations.  It  falls  little  short  of  being  as 
broad  as  all  science  in  its  technique.  Training  for  the  task  of  the 
business  administrator  must  have  breadth  and  depth  comparable 
with  those  of  the  task. 

Stating  the  matter  in  another  way,  the  modern  business  adminis- 
trator is  essentially  a  solver  of  business  problems— problems  of  busi- 
ness policy,  of  organization,  and  of  operation.  These  problems, 
great  in  number  and  broad  in  scope,  divide  themselves  into  certain 
type  groups,  and  in  each  t3q)e  group  there  are  certain  classes  of 
obstacles  to  be  overcome,  as  well  as  certain  aids,  or  materials  of 
solution. 

If  these  problems  are  arranged  (i)  to  show  the  significance  of  the 
organizing  and  administrative,  or  control,  activities  of  the  modem 
responsible  manager,  and  (2)  to  indicate  appropriate  fields  of  train- 
ing, the  diagram  on  opposite  page  (which  disregards  much  overlapping 
and  interacting)  results. 


what  extended  discussion  of  this  matter  is  to  be  found  in  L.  C.  Marshall, 
"A  Balanced  Curriculum  in  Business  Education,"  Journal  oj  Political 
Economy,  XXV  (January,  191 7),  84. 


COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS 


ss- 


BASIC  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  BUSINESS  CURRICULUM 


Of  problems  of  adjustment  to  physical 
environment 

a)  The  earth  sciences 

b)  The  manager's   relationship   to 

these 

Of  problems  of  technology 

a)  Physics      through      mechanics, 

basic,  and  other  sciences  as 
appropriate 

b)  The    manager's    administration 

of  production 


Control 

1.  Communicating    aids    of 
control,  for  example 

a)  English 

b)  Foreign  languages 

2.  Measuring  aids  of  control, 

for  example 

a)  Mathematics 

b)  Statistics  and  account- 

ing 

3.  Standards  and  practices  of 

control 

a)  Psychology 

b)  Organization      policies 

and  methods 


Of  problems  of  finance 

a)  The    financial    organization    of 

society 

b)  The    manager's    administration 

of  finance 

Of  problems  connected  with  the  market 

a)  Market   functions   and   market 

structure 

b)  The  manager's  administration  of 

marketing  (including  purchas- 
ing and  trafl&c) 

Of  problems  of  risk  and  risk-bearing 

a)  The  risk  aspects  of  modern  in 

dustrial  society 

b)  The  manager's  administration  of 

risk-bearing 

Of  problems  of  personnel 

a)  The  position  of  the  worker   in 

modern  industrial  society 

b)  The    manager's    administration 

of  personnel 

Of  problems  of  adjustment  to  social 
environment 

a)  The  historical  background 

b)  The  socio-economic  institutional 

Ufe 

c)  Business  law  and  government 


3^4  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

LENGTH   OF  COURSES 

Collegiate  schools  of  business  have  made  three  fairly  clearly 
distinguishable  arrangements  in  terms  of  length  and  school 
years.  First  may  be  mentioned  the  two-year  collegiate  school 
of  business.  This  type  in  turn  falls  into  two  classes.  Wisconsin 
and  Minnesota  are  good  examples  of  one  class.  They  each  give 
a  two-year  professional  course  in  business  during  the  Junior  and 
Senior  years  of  college.  Although  the  business  course  proper  does 
not  begin  until  the  Junior  year,  those  students  who  are  planning 
to  take  the  business  course  follow  a  pre-business  course  during 
their  Freshmen  and  Sophomore  years.  To  a  considerable  degree 
the  school  of  business  indicates  the  subjects  which  shall  be  taken 
in  these  pre-commerce  years.  It  is  therefore  a  two-year  course 
with  a  considerable  influence  over  the  two  preceding  years. 
The  University  of  Pittsburgh,  on  the  other  hand,  has  a  two- 
year  course  given  also  for  Juniors  and  Seniors  which  recognizes 
no  such  term  as  pre-commerce  students.  The  previous  train- 
ing of  the  students  is  a  matter  of  no  concern  at  Pittsburgh  and 
the  present  administration  stands  definitely  for  this  two-year 
course  as  distinguished  from  the  course  based  on  two  years  of 
''guidance." 

The  case  for  a  rather  sharp  dividing  line  between  the  general 
training  and  the  professional  training  has  thus  been  put:' 

It  seems  to  us  that  technical  commercial  courses  and  liberal 
academic  courses  must  be  so  related  in  a  curriculum  as  to 
best  develop  two  capacities  in  every  physical  man, — the  man,  in 
the  loftiest  sense  of  the  word,  and  the  business  man  in  the  special 
sense  of  the  word;  or  to  express  it  differently,  to  develop  a  man  who 
looked  at  on  one  side,  is  a  broad  minded  man  interested  in  business, 
and  looked  at  on  the  other  side,  is  a  business  man  who  is  broad  minded. 

We  believe  that  the  training  of  the  man  should  precede  the 
training  of  the  business  man  and  that  the  result  can  be  best  accom- 
plished by  having  a  period  of  education  organized  primarily  for  the 
first  and  followed  by  a  period  organized  primarily  to  accomplish  the 
other  result. 

^  Adapted  from  H.  S.  Person,  "Remarks  Concerning  the  Amos  Tuck 
School  of  Dartmouth  College,"  Publications  of  the  Michigan  Science  Associa- 
tion, V  (1902-4),  60. 


COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS  385 

A  second  arrangement  is  the  four-year  course.  The  present 
program  at  the  Wharton  School  outlines  such  a  four-year  under- 
graduate course.  The  School  of  Commerce  and  Administration 
of  the  University  of  Chicago  is  another  example  of  a  definite 
four-year  course  which  is  declared  to  offer  undergraduate  pro- 
fessional training.  In  both  of  these  schools,  as  in  other  t5T)ical 
four-year  courses,  the  student  can  find  a  desirable  amount  of 
work  beyond  his  four  years,  although  such  work  is  not  requisite 
to  his  degree.  The  advantages  of  this  type  of  organization  are 
presented  in  the  following  statement.' 

The  undergraduate-graduate  school  of  business  administration 
exercises  control  of  the  student's  curriculum  for  a  period  of  from  four 
to  seven  years.  The  minimum  four  years  carry  the  student  to  the 
bachelor's  degree,  the  maximum  seven  years  should  carry  him  to 
the  doctorate. 

The  advantages  of  this  type  of  organization  may  be  stated  thus: 

1.  The  control  of  the  entire  undergraduate  curriculum  makes  it 
possible  to  arrange  an  orderly  course  of  study  which  will  (a)  correct 
deficiencies  of  secondary  education,  (b)  give  the  student  an  awareness 
of  the  great  fields  of  human  activity,  and  (c)  systematically  develop  a 
knowledge  of  business  in  terms  of  its  great  functions.  The  plain 
truth  is  that  the  Arts  college  has  largely  broken  down  in  the  American 
educational  system,  and  the  college  of  business  administration  needs 
to  control  the  entire  four  years  of  its  students  in  order  to  guarantee 
an  education  that  is  really  liberal,  and  not  merely  loose.  That  the 
college  of  business  administration  may  abuse  this  trust,  if  it  conceives 
its  task  narrowly,  only  serves  to  emphasize  its  opportunity. 

2.  Business  education  is  so  new  and  has  before  it  so  many  prob- 
lems, that  it  seems  likely  to  gain  by  having  the  student  under  its  own 
faculty  for  as  long  a  period  as  is  reasonably  possible.  Experimenta- 
tion and  comparative  study  will  thus  be  facilitated.  Among  these 
problems  may  be  cited  the  necessity  of  securing  a  proper  background 
(discussed  above),  field  or  contact  work,  the  development  of  instruc- 
tional material  in  terms  of  basic  functions,  and  the  technique  of 
instruction.  These  problems  are  all  so  large  that  a  strong  case  may 
be  made  for  having  control  of  the  student's  course  a  sufiicient  time 
to  make  comparative  studies. 

» This  statement  was  prepared  by  L.  C.  Marshall,  Dean  of  the  School 
of  Commerce  and  Administration,  The  University  of  Chicago. 


386  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

3.  Control  of  the  entering  Freshman  gives  a  much  needed  point 
of  contact  with  secondary  education.  There  is  no  question  that  the 
junior  high  school  movement  is  working  a  revolution  in  that  field  and 
that  it  is  entirely  possible  that  the  final  outcome  will  force  a  complete 
overhauling  of  the  college  work.  Students  are  already  presenting 
for  college  admission,  credits  for  work  taken  in  the  eighth  and  even 
in  the  seventh  grade.  It  is  quite  possible  that  matters  may  proceed 
to  the  stage  where  college  graduation  requirements  will  be  stated  in 
terms  of  achievements  from  the  time  of  the  seventh  grade.  The 
School  of  Commerce  and  Administration  of  the  University  of  Chicago 
has,  indeed,  already  adopted  such  a  curriculum  as  an  alternative 
curriculum.  It  can  readily  be  seen  that  a  college  of  business  adminis- 
tration which  sincerely  beheves  in  broad  education  may  well  covet 
contact  with  secondary  education,  and  may  save  one  or  two  years  of 
educational  waste  if  it  makes  this  contact  wisely. 

4.  Precisely  the  same  kind  of  argument  may  be  made  for  contact 
with  graduate  work.  If  it  be  true,  as  I  think  it  is,  that  careful 
planning  of  a  liberal  business  education  from  the  seventh  grade  on 
through  college  will,  with  incidental  gains  in  liberal  education,  carry 
the  Bachelor  in  business  admmistration  as  far  as  a  second-year 
graduate  student  is  now  carried,  it  is  clear  that  our  graduate  work 
can  be  made  to  assume  a  new  dignity  and  importance.  Too  many 
of  our  courses  today  are  courses  for  graduate  students  rather  than 
graduate  courses.  The  school  which  has  control  of  the  whole 
undergraduate-graduate  curriculum  is  in  a  strategic  position  for 
fruitful  work  in  remedying  this  situation.  The  doctorate  (presumably 
taken  by  those  intending  to  teach  in  this  field)  can  in  such  an  institu- 
tion involve  very  mature  work. 

A  third  period  of  possible  training  is  represented  in  the 
graduate  school  of  business.  The  Graduate  School  of  Business 
at  Harvard  University  is  the  outstanding  example  of  such  a 
school.  The  course  at  Harvard  is  two  years  in  length.  The 
Graduate  School  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  includes  a 
special  course  in  business  administration  for  graduates  of 
accredited  colleges  and  universities.  Graduates  of  the  Wharton 
School  who  in  the  opinion  of  the  authorities  have  had  under- 
graduate courses  equivalent  to  the  first  year  of  this  special 
graduate  course  are  admitted^  to  the  second  year  of  the  course 
and  are  eligible  to  the  degree  of  Master  of  Business  Administra- 


COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS  387 

tion  after  one,  instead  of  two,  years  of  satisfactory  resident  work. 
Dean  Wallace  Donham,  of  the  Graduate  School  of  Harvard 
University,  thus  states  what  appears  to  him  to  be  the  function 
of  a  graduate  school  of  commerce.' 

My  idea  of  the  functions  of  a  graduate  school  of  business  are 
based,  of  course,  upon  the  problem  as  I  have  seen  it  in  my  three 
years  in  the  Harvard  Graduate  School  of  Business  Administration. 

The  aim  of  a  graduate  school  of  business  should  be  to  train  men 
for  future  executive  positions  and  train  teachers  of  business,  particu- 
larly for  the  undergraduate  collegiate  schools.  I  am  firmly  convinced 
from  my  business  experience  that  it  is  necessary  in  training  men  for 
executive  positions  to  give  them  a  broad  background,  and  I  still 
more  firmly  believe  this  since  coming  in  contact  with  the  men  in  the 
school. 

I  do  not  feel  that  a  graduate  school  of  business  should  attempt 
to  train  specialists,  in  fact  a  school  cannot  give  the  technique  of  a 
particular  job  necessary  to  prepare  specialists  nearly  as  well  as  the 
industry  itself  can  give  it. 

A  graduate  school  should  assume  the  responsibiUty  to  help  the 
individual  choose  the  type  of  business  for  which  he  is  best  suited. 
From  our  experience  a  majority  of  the  men  who  come  to  the  business 
school  know  only  that  they  want  to  enter  business,  with  little  or  no 
knowledge  of  the  demands  of  dififerent  industries  within  business. 
To  do  this  the  Harvard  Business  School  gives,  first,  a  series  of  dis- 
cussions for  the  first-year  men  in  the  school  under  the  general  heading, 
"Business  School  Methods  and  the  Choice  of  the  Study  Group." 
The  second  group  is  given  toward  the  end  of  the  year  for  second- 
year  men  imder  the  general  heading,  "Individual's  Introduction  to 
Business." 

The  first  of  these  groups  of  lectures  considers  the  relation  of  the 
individual  to  the  business  school  and  also  includes  a  group  of  lectures 
on  the  general  organization  of  business  and  specialized  business 
careers,  intended  to  help  in  the  understanding  of  particular  courses 
and  to  assist  the  individual  in  choosing  the  study  group  in  which  he 
shall  concentrate  his  work  in  the  school.  The  second  group  of  lectures, 
given  toward  the  end  of  the  second  year,  is  intended  to  bring  to  the 
attention  of  the  begirmer  in  business  some  of  the  more  important 
phases  in  his  relation  to  the  organization  into  which  he  may  go  when 

» A  statement  prepared  by  Dean  Wallace  Donham. 


388  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

he  leaves  school.  Particular  emphasis  is  placed  on  the  problems 
arising  out  of  the  personal  attitude  of  the  individual  to  his  Job  and 
to  the  man  or  the  institution  which  employs  him. 

In  the  actual  instruction  it  seems  to  us  that  we  have  three  definite 
things  to  give.  The  first  of  these  is  content  of  the  particular  courses 
of  study  and  study  groups  in  the  school.  This  content  is  more  and 
more  resolving  itself  down  to  definite  principles  of  instruction.  It 
is  necessary  in  a  graduate  curriculum  to  give  the  content  of  all  of  the 
basic  subjects  of  business,  that  is,  production,  distribution,  finance, 
and  control.  In  many  ways  more  important  than  content,  however, 
is  the  method  by  which  this  content  is  given.  Toward  this  end  we 
are  developing  the  case  system  of  instruction  by  which  means  ^^e  are 
training  the  men  to  analyze  business  situations  and  to  solve  the  type 
of  problem  than  an  executive  in  business  has  to  solve.  A  third  item 
of  instruction  is  to  give  to  the  individual  an  understanding  of  the 
economic  background  of  business.  This  phase  of  the  instruction  I 
believe  is  becoming  very  important.  When  a  man  undertakes  a  job 
after  completing  the  courses  in  the  graduate  school,  he  should  be 
able  to  interpret  to  his  firm  and  to  his  particular  job  not  only  the 
basic  facts  or  economic  principles,  but  also  should  be  able  to  apply 
the  information  which  the  economists  and  economic  services  are 
preparing  for  his  use. 

THE  STAGE  OF  BUSINESS-EDUCATION  DEVELOPMENT 

The  attempt  to  undertake  graduate  work  in  a  collegiate 
school  of  business  raises  pointedly  the  question  of  how  far 
business  education  has  developed.  One  aspect  which  graduate 
work  has  taken  up  to  the  present  time  is  to  emphasize  the  study 
of  certain  specialities.  Courses  can  be  given  in  particular  fields 
such  as  transportation,  brokerage,  insurance,  or  the  administra- 
tion of  trust  estates.  Such  a  list  of  occupational  courses  could  be 
multiplied  almost  endlessly,  and  it  would  be  far  from  the  truth  to 
say  that  such  courses  are  valueless.  In  regard  to  basic  material, 
however,  there  is  at  least  a  fair  doubt  if  there  is  any  material  of 
graduate  grade  which  is  of  distinctly  business  character.  It  is 
perhaps  a  fair  doubt  if  the  first  year,  even  of  the  Harvard 
Graduate  School,  has  anything  particularly  new  in  content  or 
viewpoint  to  offer  the  graduate  of  the  four-year  course  of  any 
of  the  better  collegiate  schools  of  business.     Such  a  school  can 


COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS  389 

offer  a  useful  opportunity  for  problem  study  on  a  somewhat 
more  elaborate  scale  than  is  usual  in  undergraduate  work. 
Obviously,  too,  the  mere  continuation  of  problem  work  is 
an  extremely  valuable  undertaking  even  for  the  student 
who  has  had  a  thoroughgoing  undergraduate  business  course. 
Most  of  all,  however,  such  courses  are  useful  to  the  liberal-arts 
or  technical  graduate  who  has  not  speciaUzed  in  business. 

The  lack  of  thoroughly  advanced  material  for  schools  of 
business  is  a  fact  of  which  leading  business-school  administrators 
are  well  aware.  This  lack  is  part  and  parcel  of  the  development 
of  the  movement.  When  one  realizes  that  the  collegiate  school 
of  business  began  only  a  few  years  ago,  almost  without  organized 
material,  the  amount  which  has  been  accomplished  is  more  re- 
markable than  the  fact  that  much  remains  yet  to  be  done. 
The  men  interested  in  collegiate  schools  of  business  have  been 
too  busy  in  laying  the  foundations  for  their  work,  to  go  far  in 
the  preparation  of  advanced  material. 

Now  that  much  of  the  preliminary  material  has  been  organ- 
ized, there  is  growing  the  feeling  that  a  great  deal  of  it  is  after  all 
frankly  elementary  in  character.  This  beUef  suggests  an  opportu- 
nity to  the  collegiate  schools  of  business.  If  a  considerable  part  of 
this  elementary  work  could,  with  wisdom,  be  unloaded  upon 
the  secondary  schools,  the  time  for  more  advanced  work  would 
be  made  available  in  tJhe  undergraduate  course,  and  the  energies 
of  the  men  now  engaged  in  these  more  elementary  courses  could 
be  freed  and  centered  upon  the  preparation  and  organization  of 
an  advanced  type  of  material. 

Stimulating  a  movement  in  this  direction  is  the  thought  that 
the  secondary-school  curriculum  would  be  greatly  enriched  by 
an  infusion  of  more  social-science  material  and  especially  of 
material  deahng  with  those  social  relations  found  in  business 
activities.  A  definite  step  in  the  du*ection  of  such  a  program 
as  that  just  suggested  is  the  report  of  a  comfnission  appointed 
by  the  Association  of  Collegiate  Schools  of  Business.' 

^Journal  of  Political  Economy,  XXX  (1922),  1-55.  Published  also 
under  the  title,  Social  Studies  in  Secondary  Schools.  University  of  Chicago 
Press,  1922. 


390  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

This  commission  was  authorized  to  undertake  a  study  of  the 
correlation  of  secondary  and  collegiate  education.  Interestingly 
enough,  this  report  presented  a  review  of  the  social  studies  in 
secondary  schools  and  proposed  a  program  of  social  studies  for 
the  junior  high  school,  stating  the  belief  that  the  junior  high 
school  was  the  ''strategic  point"  for  an  attack  at  the  present 
time. 

The  commission  then  proceeded  to  outHne  a  proposed 
reorganization  of  social  studies  in  the  secondary  schools  which 
it  believes  will  open  a  way  to  weld  the  whole  structure  of  business 
education  into  a  coherent  whole. 

There  renaains,  therefore,  a  great  deal  of  work  to  be  done 
before  the  collegiate  school  of  business  will  have  found  itself 
and  will  be  offering  to  students  work  of  a  strictly  collegiate 
character  and  courses  upon  which  study  of  really  graduate 
quality  can  be  built. 

There  will  no  doubt  be  eventually,  also,  a  considerable 
broadening  of  the  present  viewpoint  of  collegiate  business 
education.  At  present,  even  where  clearly  planned  curricula 
are  to  be  found,  they  center  largely  around  the  technique  of 
business  administration  and  claim  their  justification  in  the 
attempt  to  train  organizers  and  correlators  in  a  regime  of 
specialization.  At  best,  however,  one  has  the  feeling  that  there 
is  an  appearance  of  business  statesmanship  in  but  few  of  the 
courses  of  the  collegiate  schools  of  business.  Perhaps  this  is  a 
matter  of  no  concern.  Perhaps  it  is  meaningless  language. 
Perhaps  it  is  harking  back  to  the  canons  of  political  economy. 
The  collegiate  school  of  business  has  justified  itself  if  it  has 
improved  production  and  organization,  and  perhaps  it  cannot 
do  more.  The  field  of  the  collegiate  school  of  business  may  be 
limited  to  improvement  in  technique  and  in  organization.  If 
this  is  the  limit,  however,  it  is  unfortunate.  It  will  be  regret- 
table if  the  coUegJate  school  of  business  cannot  develop  a  corps 
of  business  men  capable  of  guiding  society.  It  will  be  regret- 
table if  the  collegiate  school  of  business  cannot  place  -clearly 
before  its  students  the  underlying  assumptions  of  a  business 
world;    if  it  cannot  bring  its  students  to  see  that  captains  of 


COLLEGIATE  SCHOOLS  OF  BUSINESS  391 

industry  are  as  much  needed  properly  to  place  business  and  to 
limit  it,  as  they  are  to  employ  it  and  exercise  it.  Only  with 
some  such  objective  can  the  study  of  business  in  any  sense 
apply  to  itself  the  notion  of  a  profession.  Law,  which  we  think 
of  as  formerly  a  profession  of  this  sort,  has  in  large  measure 
become  a  business.  To  make  a  profession  of  business,  starting 
as  we  do  with  a  heritage  of  individual  attitudes  and  a  tradition 
of  free  enterprise,  will  require  of  the  directors  of  business  educa- 
tion vision  as  well  as  courage  and  abiUty.  But  such  is  the 
challenge  which  we  in  collegiate  schools  of  business  face.  It  is 
that  challenge  which  we  must  accept  or  drop  all  claims  that 
business  education  can  be  Kberal. 


QUESTIONS  P'OR  DISCUSSION 

t.  Forms  of  education  may  be  said  to  spring  from  the  economic 
situation.  In  what  way  is  the  collegiate  technical  or  engineer- 
ing school  an  example  of  this?  In  what  way  is  the  collegiate 
school  of  business  an  example  ? 

2.  Although  institutions  may  arise  to  fill  needs,  accident  and  person- 
alities are  important  in  determining  the  exact  times  when  institu- 
tions begin  and  the  forms  which  they  take.  Does  the  early 
histor)'-  of  collegiate  schools  of  business  illustrate  this  fact  ? 

3.  How  would  you  account  for  the  fact  that  a  number  of  state  schools 
and  other  schools  of  collegiate  grade  organized  courses  of  the 
business-college  type  in  the  period  before  1900  ? 

4.  How  would  you  account  for  the  growth  in  collegiate  schools  of 
business  from  1906  to  192 1  ? 

5.  Does  it  appear  that  the  great  increase  of  students  in  collegiate 
schools  of  business  from  1910  on  is  due  to  a  new  interest  in  busi- 
ness training,  or  to  a  new  interest  in  collegiate  training  in  general, 
or  both  ? 

6.  "The  functions  of  collegiate  schools  of  business  have  been  thought 
of  from  the  beginning  in  broad  and  liberal  terms."  Is  there 
evidence  of  this  ?    If  it  is  true,  how  would  you  account  for  it  ? 

7.  What  was  the  belief  expressed  by  Dean  Scott  concerning  the 
cultural  possibilities  of  schools  of  commerce  ?  What  were  Dean 
Hotchkiss'  views  of  specific  duties  of  a  collegiate  school  of 
business  ? 


392  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

8.  What  do  you  understand  to  be  meant  by  the  statement  that 
collegiate  schools  of  business  can  provide  men  able  to  correlate 
the  work  of  the  innumerable  specialists  of  our  society  ? 

Q.  Examine  carefully  Person'^  chart  of  business  activities.  Apply 
this  analysis  to  some  manufacturing  business  with  which  you 
are  famihar,  giving  specific  illustrations  of '  certain  tasks  that 
would  be  done  in  each  zone.  Do  the  same  for  a  mercantile 
business.     Can  you  do  the  same  for  an  educational  institution  ? 

10.  "The  business  executive  administers  his  business  under  the  condi- 
tions imposed  by  his  environment,  both  physical  and  social." 
Give  examples  which  illustrate  this  statement. 

11.  Work  through  the  "basic  elements  of  the  business  curriculum" 
outlined  by  Marshall.  Give  an  illustration  of  each  of  the  types 
of  problems  mentioned. 

12.  What  do  you  understand  by  the  phrases,  communicating  aids  of 
control,  measuring  aids  of  control,  standards  and  practices  of 
control  ? 

13.  Would  a  survey  of  the  fields  outlined  in  the  list  of  the  "basic 
elements"  give  a  student  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  tasks  of 
management?  Do  you  believe  that  detailed  stud}''  of  each  of 
these  fields  would  give  him  some  ability  in  the  tasks  of 
management  ? 

14.  Is  there  any  value  in  the  effort  to  make  outlines  or  analyses  such 
as  those  suggested  by  Person  and  Marshall?  What  value,  if 
any? 

15.  No  fundamental  conclusion  has  yet  been  reached  as  to  the  proper 
length  of  a  collegiate  school  of  business  course.  Such  courses 
vary  with  the  beHefs  of  the  organizers  as  to  the  amount  of  time 
which  should  be  given  for  general  training.  Does  this  seem  to 
you  true  ?    If  so,  illustrate. 

16.  Would  it  be  possible  to  have  a  graduate  school  of  business  which 
gave  elementary  business  work  ? 

17.  What  would  seem  to  you  should  be  the  ultimate  tasks  which 
schools  of  Business  of  collegiate  grade  should  attempt  to 
accompHsh  ? 

18.  What  is  meant  by  the  statement,  "Training  is  needed  to  teach 
where  to  place  business"  ? 

19.  Can  education  for  business  be  liberal  education  ? 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE 

In  considering  high-school  commercial  courses  it  will  be 
useful  to  break  up  our  study  into  several  parts.  First,  we  shall 
examine  the  typical  high-school  commerce  course,  the  underly- 
ing institution,  as  it  exists  generally  throughout  the  country. 
This  first  view  will  give  us  a  useful  general  picture,  but  it  will  not 
give  us  a  complete  picture  of  high-school  commerical  courses. 
There  are  continual  and  important  disturbances  on  the  surface 
of  this  underlying  mass.  In  some  instances  experiments  are 
being  proposed,  in  other  cases  experiments  are  on  trial,  and  in 
still  others  they  have  been  carried  far  enough  to  justify  approval 
or  rejection. 

We  shall,  therefore,  consider  in  later  chapters  what  may  be 
ca,lled  certain  modern  extensions  of  the  high-school  commercial 
course.  Some  of  these  extensions  are  the  more  or  less  direct 
outgrowth  of  the  commercial  course  in  high  schools.  In  other 
cases  they  are  merely  the  adaptation  to  a  new  use  of  older 
institutions.  These  modern  extensions  include  the  high  school 
of  commerce,  postgraduate  commercial  courses,  evening  com- 
mercial courses,  and  co-operative  commercial  courses. 

In  this  chapter,  however,  we  shall  concern  ourselves  only 
with  the  general  and  typical  high-school  commercial  course. 
It  should  be  said,  also,  that  in  this  chapter  we  shall  make 
chiefly  a  descriptive  study.  This  may  serve  as  a  basis  of  fact 
for  Chapter  XXI,  in  which  we  consider  high-school  commercial 
curriculum  reform. 

THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE 

Enough  has.  been  said  in  Chapter  X  concerning  the  begin- 
nings of  commercial  work  in  secondary  schools  to  make  unneces- 
sary any  historical  statement  in  this  place.  So  also  the  opening 
chapter  of  this  volume  in  depicting  the  growth  and  position  of 
business  education  gave  in  considerable  detail  the  statistics 

393 


394  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

relating  to  high-school  students  in  commercial  courses.  It  may 
be  well  to  remind  ourselves,  however,  that  the  number  of  high- 
school  commercial  students  increased  from  slightly  over  15,000 
to  over  278,000,  an  increase  of  more  than  1,700  per  cent,  in  the 
twenty-five  years  between  1893  and  1918.^  Many  of  the  large 
city  high  schools  have  between  30  and  40  per  cent  of  their 
students  in  commercial  courses.  A  considerable  percentage  of 
schools  have  between  40  and  50  per  cent  in  this  work.  Further- 
more, it  is  well  to  remember  that  some  twenty  cities  have  large 
high  schools  of  commerce  in  which  all  of  the  students  are  taking 
commercial  courses.  Once  one  sees  clearly  the  imphcations  of 
these  statistics  and  recalls  the  fact  that  it  is  to  the  secondary 
school  that  we  are  at  present  looking  for  a  somewhat  liberal 
training  for  large  numbers,  the  significant  position  of  the  com- 
mercial course  in  secondary  schools  becomes  apparent. 

To  gather  the  data  upon  which  this  chapter  is  based  a 
questionnaire  was  sent  to  each  high  school,  excepting  high 
schools  of  commerce,  which  was  listed  in  the  report  of  the 
Commissioner  of  Education  as  having  over  200  pupils  in  com- 
mercial courses.^*  There  were  192  such  schools.  In  addition 
to  these,  thirty-three  questionnaires  were  sent  to  high  schools 
having  between  150  and  200  students  in  commercial  work. 

One  hundred  and  thirty-six  questionnaires,  received  from 
twenty-six  of  the  thirty-six  states  included  in  the  Commissioner's 
report,  were  returned  in  time  to  be  included  in  the  tabulations 
which  were  made. 

THE   LENGTH  OF  COMMERCIAL  COURSES 

One  hundred  and  twenty-six  schools  reported  that  a  four-year 
commercial  course  is  offered.  This  is  90  per  cent  of  the  136  that 
reported.     Forty-five  schools,  32.3  per  cent,  reported  that  a 

^  The  latest  date  for  which  accurate  figures  are  available. 

'This  questionnaire  was  the  basis  of  a  monograph  by  the  author 
entitled  A  Survey  of  Commercial  Education  in  the  Public  High  Schools  of 
the  United  States.  "Supplementary  Educational  Monographs,"  Vol.  II, 
No.  5.  Published  by  the  University  of  Chicago,  19 19.  This  chapter,  due 
to  the  courtesy  of  the  publisher,  the  School  of  Education  of  the  University 
of  Chicago,  is  in  considerable  measure  an  adaptation  of  certain  parts  of  that 
publication. 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE        395 

four-year  course  and  a  short  course  were  given,  and  eleven 
schools,  8  per  cent,  reported  a  short  course  only.  Fifty-six 
schools,  41.19  per  cent,  reported  short  courses.  The  term 
"short  course"  is  used  here  to  indicate  any  commercial  course 
of  less  than  four  years,  but  it  should  be  observed  that  there  have 
developed  in  secondary  commercial  work  short  courses  of  two 
very  distinct  types.  The  first,  which  is  by  far  the  more  common, 
is  the  course  of  one,  two,  or  three  years  which  usually,  though 
not  always,  terminates  in  securing  for  the  student  some 
definite  diploma  or  certificate,  and  which  is  designed  purely  to 
meet  the  demands  of  those  students  who  wish  to  be  rapidly 
qualified  for  clerical  positions. 

The  second  type  of  short  course  is  commonly  called  the  post- 
graduate short  course.  It  is,  as  the  term  implies,  a  course  that 
is  offered  essentially  to  students  who  have  completed  their 
high-school  work.  The  Dorchester  High  School  of  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  the  East  Orange  High  School  of  East  Orange, 
New  Jersey,  the  Madison  High  School  of  Madison,  Wisconsin, 
all  reported  a  short  course  of  this  type.  Since  the  question- 
naires were  returned  the  city  of  Chicago  has  estabHshed  several 
postgraduate  short  commercial  courses  in  different  sections  of 
the  city.  Chicago's  experience  as  well  as  that  of  others  of 
these  schools  is  discussed  in  Chapter  XX. 


LENGTH  OF  THE  SHORT  COURSE 

Fifty-six  schools,  41.1  per  cent  of  those  reporting,  indicated 
that  a  short  course  was  offered.     The  length  of  these  short 

TABLE  XXXII 

Lengths  of  Short  Courses  in  Commercial  Work  in  56  Schools* 


Length  of  Coxjrses 

3  Years 

2^  Years 

2  Years 

I  Year 

No.  of  schools  reporting . . . 
Percentage  of  total 

16 

28.5 

I 
1.8 

35 
62.5 

8 
14.2 

*  Some  schools  report  several  short  courses  of  dififerent  lengths. 

courses  varies  from  one  to  three  years.     The  two-year  course  is 
the  most  popular  of  the  short  courses.     Thirty-five,  62.5  per 


396  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

cent  of  the  fifty-six  schools  reporting  short  courses,  reported 
two-year  courses.  Table  XXXII  shows  the  variation  in  length 
of  the  short  courses. 

REQUIREMENTS   OF  COMMERCIAL  TECHNICAL   SUBJECTS 

The  questionnaire  asked  for  a  list  of  subjects  required  of 
students  in  the  commercial  course.  In  the  tabulations  the 
subjects  were  grouped  according  to  a  classification  which  will  be 
explained  as  each  group  is  discussed.  The  first  classification 
considered  included  the  technical  subjects.  This  term  is  used 
to  include  the  courses  which  train  primarily  in  technical  skill. 
The  tabulations  here  presented  refer  only  to  the  four-year  course. 
No  effort  is  made  to  summarize  the  technical  subjects  required 
in  short  courses.  Stenography,  typewriting,  and  bookkeeping 
predominate  in  the  short  course.  These  studies  are  usually 
arranged  in  the  way  that  will  best  fit  the  length  of  the  course, 
and  they  generally  occupy  all  the  time  that  is  available.  Under 
such  circumstances  it  is  obvious  that  a  tabulation  showing  the 
variation  in  organization  would  indicate  chiefly  the  varying 
length  of  the  courses  themselves.  English — sometimes  business 
EngHsh — penmanship,  commercial  arithmetic,  and  an  elemen- 
tary science  are  not  infrequently  included.^  Usually,  however, 
the  curricula  are  prima  facie  clerk  schools,  masquerading  under 
the  deluding  name  of  business  courses. 

The  technical  requirements  of  the  four-year  course  are  set 
forth  in  Table  XXXIII.*  Inasmuch  as  commercial  education  in 
American  pubHc  schools  had  its  beginning  in  bookkeeping,  which 
was  shortly  followed  by  typewriting  and  stenography,  it  might 
seem  reasonable  to  beheve  that  all  matters  relating  to  these  sub- 
jects would  be  fairly  well  standardized.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
table  shows  that  there  is  considerable  lack  of  uniformity  regard- 
ing all  of  them.  In  the  teaching  of  bookkeeping,  for  instance, 
the  reports  show  that  the  courses  range  from  one-half  year  to 
four  years.     Two  years  is  clearly  the  most  common  period  to 

*  See  Table  XVI  for  non-technical  subjects  in  short  courses. 

"In  considering  the  variations  in  length  of  courses  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  the  number  of  hours  a  week  is  a  variable.  The  degree  of 
variability  was  not  brought  out. 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE        397 

devote  to  bookkeeping.  Nearly  one-half  of  the  121  schools 
reporting,  49.5  per  cent,  have  fixed  upon  two  years  as  the  requi- 
site time.  The  remaining  50  per  cent  vary  widely.  Fourteen 
schools,  or  1 1.5  per  cent,  reported  that  one  year  is  given  to 
bookkeeping.  Nearly  as  many,  10.8  per  cent  of  the  schools 
reporting,  have  one  and  one-half-year  courses,  while  a  surpris- 
ingly large  number,   14  per  cent,  utilize  three  years  in  the 

TABLE  XXXIII 

Length  of  Time  Required  for  Technical  Subjects  in  Foue-Year 
Commercial  Courses  in  Public  High  Schools 


Bookkeeping 

Typewriting 

Stenography 

Commercial 
Arithmetic 

Years  Required 

Schools 
Requiring 
(of  121  Report- 
ing) 

Schools 
Requiring 
(of  112  Report- 
ing) 

Schools 
Requiring 
(of  116  Report- 
ing) 

Schools 
Requiring 
(of  114  Report- 
ing) 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

1 

I 

35 

I 

72 

3 

0.8 

1 

4 

3-3 

I 

0.9 

I 

0.8 

30-7 
0.8 

I    

13 
13 

I 
60 

7 
17 

I 
4 

II. 5 
10.8 

0.83 
49-5 

5-7 
14.0 

0.83 

3-3 

15 
6 

13.4 
5-4 

9 

5 

7.7 
4.3 

63.1 
2.6 

i| 

if 

2    

54 

9 
22 

I 

4 

48.2 

80 

68.9 
6.0 

9-4 
0.8 

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3i:::::::;::: 

4 



teaching  of  bookkeeping.  Four  schools,  or  ^.^  per  cent,  spread 
their  course  over  four  years,  and  an  equal  number  require  only 
one-half  year. 

In  typewriting,  the  lack  of  uniformity  is  not  quite  so  pro- 
nounced. Of  the  112  reporting  schools,  48.2  per  cent  have 
fixed  upon  two  years  for  their  typewriting  course.  In  this 
work,  however,  as  in  bookkeeping,  courses  vary  from  one-half 
year  to  four  years.  Of  the  schools  reporting,  13.4  per  cent 
require  a  one-year  course,  5.4  per  cent  require  one  and  one-half 


398  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

years,  8  per  cent  do  the  work  in  two  and  one-half  years,  19.6 
per  cent  have  a  three-year  course,  and  3.6  per  cent  have  a  four- 
year  tourse. 

.In  stenography  more  emphasis  has  been  put  upon  the  two- 
year  period  than  in  bookkeeping,  although  the  two-year  course 
has  apparently  not  been  so  generally  adopted  as  in  typewriting. 
Of  116  schools  reporting,  68.9  per  cent  give  two  years  to  stenog- 
raphy, 7.7  per  cent  give  their  work  in  one  year,  6  per  cent  in  two 
and  one-half  years,  9.4  per  cent  require  three  years,  and  1.7  per 
cent  require  four  years  of  training. 

A  total  of  114  schools  reported  concerning  the  length  of  time 
required  in  commercial  arithmetic.  Of  these,  seventy- two,  63.1 
per  cent,  give  a  one-year  course.  The  half-year  course  is  also 
popular  and  is  used  in  30.7  per  cent  of  the  reporting  schools. 
Only  two  schools  reported  courses  in  commercial  arithmetic 
extending  over  a  two-year  period.  Three  schools  reported  a 
requirement  of  one  and  one-half  years. 

The  lack  of  uniformity  which  exists  in  the  length  of  courses 
in  these  technical  subjects,  where  one  naturally  expects  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  standardization,  is  indicative  of  the  uncer- 
tainty that  seems  to  pervade  commercial  education  in  high 
schools.  There  is  some  reason,  however,  to  beUeve  that  the 
two-year  courses  in  bookkeeping,  stenography,  and  t)^e- 
writing  have  been  emphasized  for  administrative  reasons. 
Our  study  has  shown  that  business  colleges  throughout  the 
country  give  much  more  intensive  courses  in  these  technical 
subjects,  and,  so  far  as  the  technical  training  is  concerned,  these 
colleges  appear  to  turn  out  a  product  quite  equal  to  that  which 
the  public  high  school  produces.  There  is  nothing  to  indicate 
that  the  same  work  could  not  be  accomplished  in  the  same 
manner  in  high  schools.  Furthermore,  and  perhaps  more  to 
the  point,  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  that  a  careful  study  has 
been  made  to  determine  the  length  of  time  necessary  for  the 
acquirement  of  proficiency  in  these  technical  subjects.  It  is 
common  conversation  among  school  people  that  technical 
courses  fit  well  into  a  two-year  plan,  yet  the  reports  indicate 
that  many  schools  beheve  that  they  can  be  fitted  into  other 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE 


399 


plans.  Noticeably  lacking  is  a  standard  time  for  technical 
courses,  based  on  careful  experiment  in  teaching  the  subjects 
referred  to. 

NON-TECHNICAL  SUBJECTS  IN  THE   SHORT  COURSE 

In  a  consideration  of  non- technical  subjects,  it  appears 
advisable  to  discuss  English  separately.  One  hesitates  to 
classify  it  as  a  technical  subject,  and  yet  it  can  hardly  be  grouped 
with  the  distinctly  non-technical  work.  Of  the  fifty-six  schools 
reporting  short  courses,  forty-five  gave  data  on  the  English 
requirements  in  these  courses.  These  data  are  given  in  Table 
XXXIV,  This  report  indicates  that  English  is  a  subject  which 
has  secured  a  place  even  in  courses  so  largely  given  to  narrow 
utilitarian  uses  as  the  short  commercial  courses.  A  comparison 
of  this  table  with  Table  XXXII  reveals  some  interesting  facts. 
Table  XXXII  indicates  that  28.5  per  cent  of  the  schools  giving 
short  courses  have  three-year  courses.     Table  XXXIV  shows 

TABLE  XXXIV 

English  Requirements  of  the  Short  Course 

(45  Schools  Reporting) 


3  Years 

2  Years 

I  Year 

Number  Schools 

Percentage 

Number 
Schools 

Percentage 

Number 
Schook 

Percentage 

II 

24.4 

33 

73-3 

I 

2.2 

that  almost  the  same  percentage,  24.4  per  cent,  require  three 
years  of  English.  Of  the  schools  reporting  short  courses,  62.5 
per  cent  give  two-year  courses.  Of  the  short  courses  reported, 
73.3  per  cent  require  two  years  of  English.  Evidently  Enghsh 
is  usually  a  required  subject  throughout  the  short  course. 

OTHER  NON-TECHNICAL   SUBJECTS  IN  THE   SHORT  COURSE 

A  consideration  of  the  non-technical  subjects  other  than 
English  in  the  short  course  brings  out  the  lamentable  paucity  of 
general  training  which  is  given  in  these  short  business  courses 


400  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

and  the  very  limited  vision  of  the  world  with  which  their  gradu- 
ates enter  busmess.  In  Table  XXXV  the  non- technical  subjects 
have  for  convenience  been  thrown  into  three  groups.  Subjects 
commonly  classified  as  science  are  grouped  together.  A  second 
class  is  arbitrarily  called  "Social-Business  Subjects."  These 
subjects  are  grouped  separately  because  they  include  those 
general  subjects  which  deal  with  the  social  forces  which  surround 
the  business  man  and  which  are  sometimes  taught  under  the 
direction  of  commercial  departments.  The  third  group  is 
termed  the  "General  Academic  Subjects,"  and  into  it  are  put 
all  subjects  not  enumerated  in  the  first  two  groups. 

An  examination  of  Table  XXXV  shows  clearly  that  the  short 
courses  are  not  planned  to  do  much  else  than  train  along  tech- 
nical lines.  Of  the  fifty-six  schools  reporting  short  courses, 
approximately  75  per  cent  require  something  in  the  way  of 
science,  but  only  twenty-four,  42  per  cent,  require  at  least  one 
social-business  subject,  and  only  thirteen,  22.7  per  cent,  require 
at  least  one  general  academic  subject.  A  closer  examination  of 
Table  XXXV,  however,  reveals  the  infrequency  with  which  any 
comprehensive  demands  are  made  in  the  fields  of  general  train- 
ing. Science  has  apparently  made  some  small  claim.  Commer- 
cial geography,  which  in  this  discussion  is  classed  as  science,  is 
required  more  universally  than  any  other  subject,  and  yet  it  is 
required  in  the  commercial  short  courses  in  but  twenty-three 
cases,  40  per  cent  of  those  reporting.  Hygiene  or  physiology, 
doubtless  owing  to  state  law  in  many  cases,  is  required  in  twelve 
of  the  short  courses,  21  per  cent  of  those  reporting.  Four  schools, 
7.1  per  cent  of  those  reporting,  require  physiography.  A  single 
school  requires  general  science;  one  other  requires  physics  or 
chemistry,  and  two  schools  require  biology.  This  represents 
the  meager  claim  which  science  has  been  able  to  make  in  the 
short  courses,  and  yet  its  hold  is  more  substantial  than  that  of 
any  other  group  of  subjects.  If  we  refer  to  the  social-business 
subjects  grouped  in  Table  XXXV,  we  find  ^at  courses  of  such 
decidedly  business  flavor  as  economics,  industrial  history,  and 
history  of  commerce  have  won  almost  no  recognition.  The 
last  two  of  these  are  required  in  two  instances,  slightly  less  than 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE        401 


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402 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


4  per  cent  of  the  schools  reporting.  Economics  is  reported  as 
required  by  only  one  school,  1.7  per  cent  of  those  reporting. 
Commercial  law  has  a  somewhat  stronger  position,  inasmuch  as 
ten  schools,  18  per  cent,  require  this  subject.  Civics  is  made  a 
requirement  in  the  short  course  by  7  schools,  12  per  cent,  and 
*' local  industry"  is  a  requirement  in  two  schools,  4  per  cent  of 
those  reporting. 

The  general  academic  subjects  are  hardly  noticed  by  the 
formulators  of  short  commercial  courses.  Four  of  these  schools, 
7.1  per  cent,  require  United  States  history,  and  five,  8.5  per 
cent,  make  some  modern-language  requirement.  Modern  and 
medieval  history,  EngHsh  history,  algebra,  and  geometry  have, 
respectively,  estabHshed  places  as  required  subjects  in  only  one 
school. 

THE   ENGLISH  REQUIREMENTS   OF  THE  FOUR-YEAR  COURSE 

An  examination  of  the  EngHsh  requirements  in  the  four- 
year  course  leads  to  conclusions  similar  to  those  at  which  one 
arrives  from  the  study  of  English  in  the  short  courses.  What- 
ever objection  against  other  academic  subjects  may  be  advanced 


TABLE  XXXVI 

Number  of  Years  of  English  Required  in  the  Four- Year 

Commercial  Course 

(115  Schools  Reporting) 


4  Years 

3J  Years 

3  Years 

2  Years 

I  Year 

Number 
Schools 

Percent- 
age 

Number 
Schools 

Percent- 
age 

Number 
Schools 

Percent- 
age 

Number 
Schools 

Percent- 
age 

Number 
Schools 

Percent- 
age 

86 

74-7 

6 

5.2 

18 

15.6 

4 

3-4 

I 

0.8 

by  the  utilitarian  organizers  of  commercial  curricula,  it  is  clear 
that  the  need  of  EngHsh  is  admitted.  A  total  of  115  schools 
reported  on  the  English  requirements  in  the  four-year  commer- 
cial course,  and  these  reports  are  summarized  in  Table  XXXVI. 
An  examination  of  this  table  shows  that  approximately  three- 
fourths  of  these  schools  have  a  requirement  of  four  years  of 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE        403 

English.  Slightly  over  15  per  cent  require  three  years  of 
English.  But  a  single  school,  0.8  per  cent,  limits  the  require- 
ments in  English  to  one  year,  and  only  four  of  the  115  schools 
reporting  3.4  per  cent,  limit  their  EngUsh  requirements  to  two 
years.  The  table  shows  that  94.5  per  cent  of  the  115  schools 
require  three  years  or  more  of  English  in  the  four-year  com- 
mercial course. 

OTHER  NON-TECHNICAL  SUBJECTS  IN  THE  FOUR-YEAR  COURSE 

Table  XXXVII,  which  presents  data  gathered  concerning 
the  non-technical  subjects  in  the  four-year  course  (English  ex- 
cepted), needs  a  word  or  two  of  introductory  explanation.  It 
will  be  noted  that  subjects  have  been  classified  in  three  groups: 
(a)  "Subjects  Dealing  with  Physical  Environment";  (b)  "Sub- 
jects Dealing  Directly  with  Social  Environment  of  Business"; 
(c)  "Other  Subjects." 

Speaking  broadly,  these  three  divisions  are  intended  to 
represent  science,  social-business  subjects  (such  as  those  con- 
sidered in  Table  XXXV),  and  the  general  academic  subjects, 
typically  mathematics,  language,  and  history.  These  headings 
are  used  because  the  first  two  signify  a  business  point  of  view 
from  which  these  non-technical  subjects  may  be  regarded.  In 
our  study  of  what  business  is  we  have  seen  that  an  individual 
business  enterprise  must  make  an  adjustment  to  the  complex 
social  relationship  of  which  it  is  a  part.  Such  social  institutions 
as  the  market,  finanical  structures,  laws,  and  business  associations 
combine  with  a  multitude  of  other  mechanisms  to  make  an 
intricate  social  environment  for  a  business  undertaking.  Cer- 
tain subjects  in  the  curriculum,  such  as  economics,  commercial 
law,  civics,  and  industrial  history,  are  an  aid  in  making  the 
student  aware  of  this  social  environment  and  in  enabling  him 
to  adjust  himself  to  it  more  efi"ectively. 

In  the  same  way  the  individual  business  enterprise  deals  with 
the  facts  of  physical  science  and  utilizes  them  constantly  in  the 
conduct  of  its  affairs.  Some  knowledge  of  this  physical  environ- 
ment to  which  the  individual  business  enterprise  must  make  an 
adjustment  is  gained  through  the  study  of  various  sciences. 


404 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


Students  in  science  and  geography  have  an  opportunity  to  gain 
something  which  may  be  useful  in  making  an  adjustment  to 
physical  environment. 

Nothing  need  be  said  in  explanation  of  the  column  labeled 
^' Other  Subjects."  They  are,  as  has  been  suggested,  typically 
mathematics,  language,  and  history. 

TABLE  XXXVII 

Schools  Offering  and  Requiring  Non-technical  Subjects   in  the 

Four- Year  Commercial  Course,  English  Excepted 

(136  Schools  Reporting) 


Of  Total  Number 
OF  Schools 
Reporting 

SuB.rECTS  Dealing 

WITH  Physical 

Environment 

(Science) 

Subjects  Dealing  Di- 
rectly with  Social 
Environment  of 

Business 
(Social  Business) 

Other  Subjects 
(General  Academic) 

Number 

Percentage 

Number 

Percentage 

Number 

Percentage 

Schook  offering   to 
four-year       com- 
mercial   students 
(136  reporting) .  . 

Schools  reauiring  in 
first   and   second 
years  (136  report- 

114 
93* 
10 

83.0 

61.7 

8.0 

I2S 

3ot 
106 

91. 1 

22.0 
86.1 

los 

80 

62t 

77.2 

Schools  requiring  in 
third  and  fourth 
years  (123  report- 

♦  In  63  instances  this  was  commercial  geography  only. 

fThe  distribution  in  the  first  and  second  years  among  the  subjects  considered  in  this 
group  was  as  follows: 

Industrial  history 10  schools        Commercial  law 9  schools 

Economics 4  schools        History  of  commerce 4  schools 

Civics 10  schools        Local  industries 3  schools 

X  In  20  cases  United  States  history,  or  United  States  history  and  civics,  was  the  sole 
requirement. 


An  examination  of  Table  XXXVII  is,  at  first  view,  quite 
heartening  to  those  who  hope  to  see  a  broader  type  of  education 
pervading  commercial  courses.  The  first  column  indicates  that 
1 14,  S^  per  cent,  of  the  schools  replying  to  the  questionnaire, 
offer  to  commercial  students  courses  dealing  with  physical 
environment;  125,  91.1  per  cent,  offer  courses  dealing  with  the 
social  environment;  while  105,  77.2  per  cent,  offer  some  general 
academic  studies.    A  more  careful  analysis,  however,  shows  that 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE        405 

there  is  no  certainty  that  these  subjects  will  be  taken  by  com- 
mercial students.  The  requirements  in  these  lines  of  work  are 
noticeably  less  than  the  offerings.  The  requirements  have  been 
divided  into  those  which  fall  in  the  first  and  second  years  and 
those  which  fall  in  the  third  and  fourth  years.  In  the  first  and 
second  years  ninety- three  schools,  61  per  cent,  make  some 
science  requirement  of  commercial  students.  This  is  more 
gratifying  before  one  realizes  that  in  more  than  two-thirds  of  the 
cases  reporting  science  requirements,  commercial  geography  is 
the  only  science  required.  In  the  first  and  second  years  only 
thkty  schools,  22  per  cent,  require  commercial  students  to  take 
courses  dealing  with  the  social  environment  in  which  business 
is  ■  conducted.  These  requirements,  as  the  footnote  indicates, 
are  scattered  and  varied.  The  significance  of  these  meager 
requirements  in  the  first  and  second  years  is  emphasized  when 
one's  attention  is  called  to  the  large  number  of  students  in  the 
four-year  courses  who  do  not  remain  in  school  beyond  the  second 
year.  The  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1916 
regarding  the  number  and  percentage  of  students  m  each  year 
of  high-school  courses  shows  that  the  condition  obtained  which 
is  set  forth  in  Table  XXXVIII.^ 

TABLE  XXXVIII 

Number  and  Percentage  of  Students  in  Each  Year  of  Public 

High-School  Courses  in  Schools  Reporting,  1914-15 


First  Year 

Second  Year 

Third  Year 

Fourth  Year 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Number 

Percentage 

Number 

Percentage 

Number 

Percentage 

543,206 

40.86 

354,705 

26.69 

245,380 

18.46 

185,873 

13-99 

There  are  many  reasons  for  believing  that  in  commercial 
courses  the  percentage  of  students  who  leave  during  the  first 
and  second  years  is  somewhat  higher  than  the  averages  quoted 
in  Table  XXXVIII,  yet  this  table  indicates  that  more  than  67 

*  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education,  for  the  Year  Ended  June  30, 
1916,  II,  448. 


4O0  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

per  cent  of  the  high-school  students  leave  without  beginning 
their  third  year's  work. 

In  the  third  and  fourth  years,  as  indicated  in  Table  XXXVII, 
science  is  required  in  ten  schools,  8  per  cent  of  those  reporting. 
The  studies  in  the  social-business  group,  however,  obtain  a 
noticeable  prominence  in  the  third  and  fourth  years.  Of  the 
schools  reporting,  io6,  86.1  per  cent,  require  one  or  more  of  the 
social-business  group  of  studies.  In  few  cases  is  there  much 
plan  or  organization  shown  in  these  requirements,  but  it  is  at 
least  satisfactory  to  notice  that  there  is  a  keen  realization  of  the 
need  of  this  type  of  work  for  business  students.  Apparently 
the  tendency  is  to  crowd  this  work  into  the  last  two  years  at 
the  expense  of  science  in  this  period  and  at  the  expense  of  the 
first  and  second  years.  Science,  on  the  other  hand,  has  its 
strongest — almost  its  only — ^hold  in  the  first  two  years. 

An  examination  of  the  general  subjects  required  in  the  four- 
year  commercial  course  shows  that  commercial  work  and  aca- 
demic training  have  not  established  intimate  relations.  In 
the  first  two  years  59  per  cent  of  the  reporting  schools  make 
some  requirements,  and  in  the  last  two  years  50  per  cent  require 
commercial  students  to  take  some  general  subject  or  subjects. 
Usually,  however,  these  requirements  are  limited,  as  is  shown 
in  the  case  of  the  third  and  the  fourth  years,  in  which  United 
States  history  or  United  States  history  and  civics  is  the  sole 
general  academic  requirement  in  twenty-nine  of  the  sixty-two 
schools  that  require  some  general  academic  work. 

SOME   CONCLUSIONS   FROM  THE  PRECEDING  DATA 

Three  conclusions  are  inevitable  from  a  review  of  the  data 
which  we  have  been  considering.  The  first  of  these  conclusions 
is  that  the  high-school  commercial  course  is  still  dominated  by 
heredity.  It  is  still  in  the  grip  of  its  inheritance  from  the  busi- 
ness colleges  from  which  it  so  largely  sprang.  Brought  into  the 
secondary-school  world  to  compete  with  private  commercial 
education,  fathered  in  its  beginnings  almost  entirely  by  the 
graduates  of  business  colleges,  finding  its  ideals  largely  in  an 
imitation  of  its  competitors,  the  high-school  commercial  course 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE        407 

has  in  great  measure  remained  as  it  began — a  technical  training 
course,  giving  instruction  in  mechanical  routine.  In  performing 
this  function  it  has  been  encouraged  by  business  men  and  busi- 
ness conditions.  We  have  surveyed  some  of  the  characteristics 
of  business  growth  and  change  which  during  the  past  fifty  years 
have  been  conducive  to  the  persistence  of  this  type  of  training. 
The  developing  aspects  of  modern  business  have  kept  in  the 
minds  of  business  managers  the  need  of  clerical  performance  at 
the  same  time  that  increasing  size,  risk,  and  complexity  have 
made  industrial  and  commercial  undertakings  increasingly 
forbidding,  if  not  impossible,  to  a  great  number  of  persons. 
These  conditions  have  increased  the  inherent  tendency  of  the 
high-school  commercial  course  to  imitate  the  business  college. 

The  second  conclusion  derived  from  these  data,  and  one 
that  is  akin  to  the  first,  is  that  the  commercial  course  has  never 
clearly  allied  itself  with  the  traditional  purposes  of  American 
high  schools.  There  has  been  an  attachment,  but  not  a  coales- 
cence. The  traditional  courses  of  the  high  school  have  been 
organized  into  various  groups  under  various  heads,  but  always — 
poor  as  the  accompHshment  may  have  been — the  high-school 
function  has  been  conceived  as  one  of  socialization.  In  this 
aim  the  high-school  commercial  course  has  not  liberally  partici- 
pated. Bound  by  its  traditions  and  encouraged  by  circum- 
stances, it  has  adhered  to  its  narrow  utilitarian  ends. 

The  third  conclusion  follows  from  the  second.  The  possibili- 
ties of  the  high-school  commercial  course,  either  as  a  utilitarian, 
or  as  a  social  course,  have  not  been  perceived,  or,  if  they  have 
been  perceived,  that  perception  has  not  been  expressed  by  an 
adequate  organization  of  work. 

THE    SOCIAL-BUSINESS    SUBJECTS   IN   THE   CONTEMPORARY 
HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE 

As  has  been  stated  in  Chapter  X,  late  years  have  seen 
appearing  in  the  high  school  certain  new  subjects  dealing  with 
social  relations.  Business  has  not  formulated  its  feeling  of 
its  social  relations.  Producers  talk  broadly  of  the  market, 
the  financial  situation,  the  administration 's  attitude,  bad  times. 


4o8  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

labor  conditions,  booms,  business  risks,  and  the  public  without 
always  distinguishing  between  these  factors  or  analyzing  them 
in  relation  to  one  another.  Neither  has  the  secondary  educator 
yet  analyzed  the  social  complex  of  which  each  business  is  a  part, 
but  has  met  this  vague  and  general  demand  of  business  with 
general  courses  in  economics,  industrial  history,  histories  of 
commerce,  commercial  geography,  business  writing,  commercial 
law,  and  sometimes  commercial  organization. 

These  subjects  that  have  more  recently  come  into  the  high 
school  have  not  all  found  place  in  the  commercial  department.' 
One  inquiry  of  the  questionnaire  dealt  with  a  number  of  these 
social-business  subjects  without  regard  to  the  claims  of  various 
departments.  The  effort  was  made  to  determine  how  far  they 
are  made  effective  in  presenting  to  the  student  a  reasonably 
comprehensive  view  of  the  social  significance  of  business  and 
the  social  implications  of  the  technical  work  in  any  business 
enterprise. 

The  selected  group  of  social-business  subjects  considered 
were: 

Industrial  history  Commercial  law 

History  of  commerce  Salesmanship 

Economics  Advertising 

Commercial  geography         Commercial  organization 
Business  English 

The  questions  asked  concerning  these  subjects  were  designed 
to  learn:  {a)  the  number  and  percentage  of  schools  teaching 
these  subjects;  {h)  the  lengths  of  courses  offered;  (c)  to  what 
extent  courses  are  required  and  in  what  years;  {d)  in  what  year 
courses  are  elective  or  required;  {e)  by  what  department  courses 
are  directed;  (/")  by  teachers  of  what  other  subjects  the 
courses  are  taught;  (g)  difficulties  and  problems  in  the  work; 
{h)  texts  used;  {i)  purposes  and  methods  employed.  This  last 
question  was  asked  only  concerning  salesmanship,  advertising, 
business  English,  and  commercial  organization. 

» An  argument,  not  uncommonly  violent,  rages  in  the  high  schools  as 
to  whether  commercial  Enghsh  belongs  to  the  English  department  or  to 
the  commercial  department. 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCLVL  COURSE        409 

Not  particularly  related  to  the  general  purpose  of  this  ques- 
tion, but  intended  to  bring  out  the  extent  to  which  certain  new 
courses  are  taught,  a  tenth  subdivision  was  included  in  this 
question.  This  asked  merely  whether  any  work  in  office  appli- 
ances, banking,  and  commercial  designing  was  given. 

To  summarize  the  replies  to  these  questions  required  that  at 
least  eight  answers  be  noted  and  tabulated  for  each  of  nine 
questions  for  the  136  schools  that  replied.  The  summaries  are 
set  forth  in  the  tables  that  follow. 

REQUIREMENTS  AND  ELECTIVES  IN  SOCIAL-BUSINESS  SUBJECTS 

Table  XXXIX  presents  the  requirements  and  electives  in 
this  group  of  studies  as  they  were  reported  by  the  schools  to 
which  the  questionnaires  were  sent.    A  moment's  study  of  this 

TABLE  XXXIX 

Requirements  and  Electives  in  a  Selected  Group  of  Social- 
Business  Subjects 


Subject 


Number 
Report- 
ing 


Percent- 
age OF  THE 

Reporting 
Schools 


Requiring 


Number 


Percentage 
of  Those 
Ofifering 


Elective 


Number 


Percentage 
of  Those 
Offering 


Industrial  history 

History  of  commerce . . . . 

Economics 

Commercial  geography .  . 

Commercial  law 

Business  English 

Salesmanship 

Advertising 

Commercial  organization 


43 
31 
82 
no 

1x8 
73 
40 
24 
II 


31.6 
22 
61 

87.3  . 
86.8 
53.6 
29.4 
18.3 
8.08 


28 

19-3 

40.2 

21 

23.7 

12.3 

62. s 

66.6 

63.7 


table  reveals  the  fact  that  some  of  these  subjects  are  much  more 
widely  taught  than  are  others.  Commercial  geography  and 
commercial  law  are  far  in  the  lead.  Of  the  reporting  schools, 
87.3  per  cent  and  86.8  per  cent,  respectively,  indicated  that  these 
courses  were  given.  Economics  ranks  next  in  popularity. 
Sixty-one  per  cent  of  the  reporting  schools  indicated  that  this 
subject  is  given.  Business  English  is  reported  in  sUghtly  over 
50  per  cent  of  the  reporting  schools.  Industrial  history  and 
salesmanship  are  each  taught  in  about  30  per  cent  of  the  high 


4IO  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

schools  reporting,  history  of  commerce  in  22  per  cent,  advertising 
in  18  per  cent,  commercial  organization  in  8  per  cent. 

Schools  which  offer  these  selected  subjects  by  no  means 
universally  require  them,  although  in  those  studies  which  are 
more  commonly  offered  the  percentage  of  requirement  is  high. 
The  history  of  commerce,  commercial  geography,  commercial 
law,  and  business  English  are  all  required  in  more  than  three- 
quarters  of  the  schools  where  they  are  offered.  Industrial 
history  is  required  in  72  per  cent  of  the  schools  which  offer  it. 
Next  is  economics,  which  is  required  in  59  per  cent  of  the 
schools  reporting  it.  Commercial  organization,  advertising, 
and  salesmanship  are,  respectively,  demanded  of  the  pupil  in 
slightly  more  than  one-third  of  the  schools  which  offer  these 
subjects.^ 

VARIETY  IN  LENGTH   OF  COURSES 

That  the  content  of  these  social-business  subjects  is  far  from 
standardized  and  varies  greatly  in  the  various  high  schools  is 
indicated  by  a  study  of  the  lengths  of  courses  reported.  The 
variations  in  some  of  the  subjects  are  almost  bewildering. 
Advertising,  for  example,  is  taught  in  courses  of  the  following 
lengths:  two  years,  one  year,  one-haK  year,  one- third  year,  one- 
quarter  year,  and  one-tenth  year.  The  half-year  course  has 
apparently  found  more  favor  than  any  other  length  of  course. 
In  54  per  cent  of  the  schools  reporting,  this  is  the  preferred 
length  of  course.  The  other  courses  vary  from  16  per  cent  of 
the  reporting  schools  to  4  per  cent  of  them.  An  examination  of 
Table  XL,  in  which  the  variation  in  lengths  of  courses  is  indi- 
cated, shows  that  advertising  is  no  exception. 

Business  English,  for  instance,  in  9  per  cent  of  the  cases 
reported,  is  taught  for  four  years;  in  6  per  cent  of  the  cases 
reported,  for  three  years;  and  in  23  per  cent  of  the  cases,  for 
two  years.  Twenty-seven  per  cent  of  the  schools  which 
reported  teach  the  subject  in  a  one-year  course,  while  31  per 
cent  give  a  haK-year  's  work. 

The  length  of  salesmanship  courses  is  ahnost  as  varied. 
Two  schools  reported  a  course  two  years  in  length.     From  this 

^  The  availability  of  good  text  is  no  doubt  an  important  factor  in  de- 
termining the  extent  of  these  courses.  They  are  also  more  difl5cult  to  give 
in  small  schools. 


TYPICAL  fflGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE        411 


extreme  the  courses  are  reported  shorter  by  gradations  to 
quarter-year  courses  which  are  offered  by  four  schools,  10  per 
cent  of  those  giving  work  in  salesmanship. 

TABLE  XL 
Lengths  of  Courses  of  a  Selected  Group  of  Social-Business  Subjects 


Length  of 

Schools  Offemng 

Courses  of  Each 

Length 

Subject 

IN  Years 

Number 

Percentage 
of  Those 
Reporting 

'2 

I 

2.2 

Industrial  history  (44  schools  reporting) 

I 

I 
21 

2.2 

47.7 

h 

21 

47.7 

History  of  commerce  (31  schools  reporting) .  . 

I 

I 

9 
21 

3-2 

29 
67.7 

Economics  (Sa.  schools  reoortinsr^          . 

22 
61 

I 

26.1 

73.8 

I.I 

Commercial  geography  (119  schools  reporting) 

h 

u 

I 
56 
62 

0.8 

47 

52. 1 

Commercial  law  (116  schools  reporting) 

{% 

29 

87 

25 

75 

4 
3 

7 
5 

9.2 
6.5 

Business  English  (76  schools  reporting) 

2 

18 

I 

23.7 
1-3 

I 
11 

21 
24 

27.5 
31-5 

Salesmanship  (40  schools  reporting) 

2 

I 

2 
10 

23 

I 

4 

5 

25 

K7 .  "? 

2.5 
10 

2 

I 

2 
4 

8.3 
16.6 

Advertising  (24  schools  reporting) 

' 

13 
3 

I 
I 

54.1 

12.5 
4-1 
4.1 

Commercial  organization  (10  schools  reporting) 

ft 

3 

6 

I 

60 
10 

412  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

In  subjects  where  textbooks  are  available  there  is  a  less 
noticeable  variation  in  the  lengths  of  the  courses  which  are 
given.  Industrial  history  was  reported  once  as  a  two-year 
course;  it  was  reported  once  as  a  year-and-a-half  course,  while 
twenty-one  schools  require  it  as  one-year  and  half-year  courses, 
respectively.  The  history  of  commerce  is  reported  in  one 
instance  as  given  for  a  year  and  a  half,  though  it  has  quite 
generally  settled  into  a  year 's  or  a  half-year 's  work. 

Commercial  law,  economics,  and  commercial  geography 
have  apparently  reached  a  stage  of  quite  uniform  practice.  In 
75  per  cent  of  the  reporting  schools  commercial  law  is  a  half-year 
course,  and  in  25  per  cent  it  is  a  one-year  course.  In  73.8  per 
cent  of  the  reported  cases  economics  is  given  for  a  half-year. 
In  one  instance,  i.i  per  cent  of  the  reported  cases,  economics  is 
reported  as  one-tenth  of  a  year's  work.  In  26.1  per  cent  of  the 
schools  giving  it  economics  is  a  one-year  subject.  Commercial 
organization,  a  very  recent  addition  to  high-school  work,  is 
reported  by  only  ten  schools.  In  these  ten  schools,  however, 
the  course  has  been  organized  as  a  half-year  or  a  one-year  study 
with  only  a  single  exception,  in  which  it  is  reported  as  a  course 
lasting  one-third  of  a  year. 

As  has  been  suggested  in  a  preceding  section,  it  is  unjustifi- 
able to  conclude  from  the  fact  that  the  length  of  a  course  has 
become  standardized  that  the  proper  length  of  time  for  giving 
that  work  has  been  ascertained  by  any  clearly  thought-out  or 
scientific  means.  All  too  frequently  convenience  of  organiza- 
tion with  other  work  proves  to  be  the  final  factor  in  determining 
the  length  of  a  course. 

HOW  SOCIAL-BUSINESS   SUBJECTS   ARE  DIRECTED 

It  is  said  that  an  oriental  who  has  been  given  a  fortune  will 
produce  a  palace  and  a  harem,  while  an  Englishman  or  a 
Yankee  will  turn  the  same  material  into  a  factory  or  a  railroad. 
A  child  with  a  box  of  wet  clay  will  make  a  mud  pie,  but  with 
the  same  substance  a  sculptor  produces  a  work  of  art.  The 
principle  holds  good  in  teaching.  The  interests  of  pedagogues 
determine  in  no  small  degree  the  results  which  are  produced 
with  courses. 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE 


413 


It  is  pertinent,  therefore,  to  ask  who  directs  the  social- 
business  subjects  in  the  high  school.  Table  XLI  presents  the 
data  collected  on  this  matter.  It  shows  quite  clearly  that  there 
is  disagreement  as  to  the  departments  to  which  these  various 
subjects  should  belong. 

Commercial  law  is  directed  by  the  commercial  department 
in  92.3  per  cent  of  the  reported  cases.  Salesmanship  is  given  to 
the  commercial  department  in  91  per  cent  of  the  reporting 
schools. 

TABLE  XLI 

Methods  of  Directing  Social-Business  Subjects 


No.oir 
Schools 
Report- 
ing 
Method 
or  Direc- 
tion 

Number  and  Percentage  of  Schools  Reporting 
These  Subjects  Directed  by: 

Subject 

Commercial 
Department 

Other  than 
Commercial 
Depjartment 

Combination  of 

Commercial  and 

Other 

Departments 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Industrial  history 

History  of  commerce . 

33 

'd 

•?; 

34 
22 

Q 

13 

IS 

24 

It 

32 

il 

8 

36.3 
62.2 
36.3 

85.3 
92.3 
S6.i 
91. 1 
81.8 

88.8 

18 

7 

39 

II 
5 

22 
2 

4 

I 

S4-S 
30.4 
59 

12.3 

:l! 

3 

I 
3 

3 

2 

3 

9 

4-3 

4-5 

Commercial     geogra- 
phy  

3  -3 

Commercial  law 

Business  English 

Salesmanship 

2.1 
5.8 
2.9 

Commercial  organiza- 
tion   

Advertising,  commercial  organization,  and  commercial 
geography  are  each  directed  by  the  commercial  department  in 
more  than  80  but  less  than  90  per  cent  of  the  cases  where  these 
subjects  are  given. 

Industrial  history  which  is  thought  of  by  many  as  a  subject 
very  intimately  related  to  business  is  directed  by  some  depart- 
ment other  than  the  commercial  in  more  than  54  per  cent  of 
the  schools  where  it  is  taught.  In  only  36  per  cent  of  such 
schools  does  the  commercial  department  direct  this  work.  The 
history  of  commerce  (is  it  because  the  term  "commerce"  is  in 
the  subject  ?)  fares  somewhat  better  from  the  point  of  view  of 


414  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

the  commercial  department.  More  than  62  per  cent  of  the 
schools  which  reported  this  subject  allow  the  commercial 
department  to  direct  it.  It  is  directed  by  other  departments 
in  shghtly  over  30  per  cent  of  the  cases  reported. 

One  may  well  wonder  how  closely  economics  is  related  to 
practical  matters  in  secondary  schools  when  he  observes  that  in 
59  per  cent  of  the  schools  where  it  is  offered,  it  is  taught  by  some 
department  other  than  the  commercial.  In  only  slightly  over  a 
third  of  the  instances  where  this  subject  appears  does  the  com- 
mercial department  direct  its  destiny.  There  is  reason  to 
believe,  although  there  is  no  evidence  in  these  statistics  to 
support  the  theory,  that  economics  and  industrial  history  are 
both  largely  in  the  hands  of  history  departments.  These  sub- 
jects, especially  economics,  were  in  the  high-school  curriculum 
before  commercial  work  made  its  appearance.  Because  they 
were  associated  with  the  history  department  in  those  early 
days,  disassociation  has  not  taken  place. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  in  a  considerable  number  of 
instances  the  social-business  subjects  are  directed  by  a  combina- 
tion of  the  commercial  department  and  other  departments. 
Industrial  history  is  thus  treated  in  9  per  cent  of  the  schools 
which  reported  it.  Advertising  and  commercial  organization 
are  in  no  cases  thus  handled,  but  the  history  of  commerce, 
economics,  business  English,  salesmanship,  commercial  geog- 
raphy, and  even  commercial  law  have  a  dual  direction  occasion- 
ally indicated. 

WHO   TEACHES   SOCIAL-BUSINESS   SUBJECTS? 

Of  perhaps  greater  significance  than  the  departments  which 
direct  courses  is  the  teacher  who  teaches  them.  As  the  teachers ' 
interests  are  bent,  so  will  the  course  be  inchned.  Something 
regarding  the  teachers'  interests  can  be  gleaned  from  the  group 
of  subjects  which  they  are  teaching.  What  other  subjects,  then, 
are  being  taught  by  the  teachers  of  social-business  subjects? 
Table  XLII  gives  in  tabulated  form  a  classification  of  teachers 
who  present  these  subjects  to  students.  In  this  table  teachers 
have  been  grouped  in  three  classes:    teachers  of  commercial 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE        415 

subjects  only,  teachers  of  other  subjects  only,  and  teachers  of 
both  commercial  and  other  subjects.  This  table  shows  a 
situation  quite  similar  to  that  indicated  in  Table  XLI.  Fifty 
per  cent  of  the  industrial  history  courses  are  taught  by  teachers 
of  some  department  other  than  the  commercial  department.  In 
25  per  cent  of  the  instances  named  the  teachers  of  the  connimercial 
department  give  this  work.  The  history  of  commerce  is  taught 
by  teachers  of  commercial  subjects  only,  in  45  per  cent  of  the 
schools  which  reported;  by  teachers  of  other  subjects  only,  in  the 

TABLE  XLII 

Number  of  Teachers  Giving  Selected  Groups  of  Social- 
Business  Subjects 


No.  OF 
Schools 
Report- 
ing Class 

of 
Teachers 

Number  and  Percentage  of  Schools  Reporting 
These  Subjects  Taught  by  Teachers  of: 

Subject 

Commercial 
Subjects  Only 

Other  Subjects 
Only 

Both  Commercial 
and  Other  Subjects 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Industrial  history 

History  of  commerce . 

28 
20 
66 

94 
91 

52 

25 
19 

7 

7 
9 
21 

fs 
27 
19 

12 

6 

25 

^?.8 

61.7 
71-4 
SI. 9 

63.1 

85.7 

14 
9 

34 

22 

12 

21 

5 

7 

SO 

tie 

23-4 

13-1 

40.3 

20 

36.8 

7 

2 

II 

14 
14 
4 

I 

25 

10 
16.6 

Commercial     geograr 
phy                 

14  9 

Commercial  law 

Business  English .... 
Salesmanship 

Ve 

4 

Commercial  organiza- 
tion   

I 

14.2 

same  percentage  of  cases;  and  in  10  per  cent  of  the  reported 
cases  by  teachers  of  commercial  subjects  and  other  subjects-  as 
well.  In  the  teaching  of  economics,  as  might  be  expected  from 
our  previous  observations,  teachers  of  other  subjects  than 
commercial  predominate,  having  the  course  in  their  hands  in 
51  per  cent  of  the  instances  given.  Teachers  of  conunercial 
subjects  only,  teach  economics  in  31  per  cent  of  the  schools  where 
this  work  is  taught.  In  16  per  cent  of  the  cases  an  instructor 
with  varied  teaching  interests  handles  the  class.  Commercial 
geography  and  commercial  law  are  quite  thoroughly  in  the  hands 


4i6  ,  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

of  commercial  teachers,  these  subjects  being  thus  taught  in  6i 
per  cent  and  71  per  cent,  respectively,  of  the  reporting  schools. 
In  approximately  15  per  cent  of  the  reporting  schools  each  sub- 
ject is  taught  by  teachers  of  both  commercial  and  other  subjects, 
leaving  23.4  per  cent  of  the  geography  and  40  per  cent  of  the 
commercial-law  classes  with  teachers  of  other  subjects  only. 
The  teaching  staff  of  business  EngUsh  is  rather  evenly  divided. 
SUghtly  over  half  the  teachers  of  this  subject  are  of  the  strictly 
commercial  type.  Forty  per  cent  teach  other  subjects  only, 
presumably  English  in  most  cases.  Commercial  organization  is 
in  no  case  reported  as  being  entirely  out  of  the  hands  of  com- 
mercial teachers.  In  one  instance  the  reply  was  made  that  a 
teacher  who  taught  some  other  subjects  as  well  as  commercial 
subjects  was  giving  the  work.  In  all  other  instances  com- 
mercial organization  is  in  the  hands  of  commercial  teachers. 

Salesmanship  and  advertising  are  not  so  generally  taught  by 
commercial  teachers  as  is  commercial  organization.  In  only 
three-quarters  of  the  schools  giving  the  work  is  salesmanship 
guided  by  strictly  commercial  teachers,  while  advertising  is  in 
the  hands  of  such  teachers  in  less  than  two-thirds  of  the  schools 
which  teach  the  subjects. 

CORRELATION  OF   SOCIAL-BUSINESS   SUBJECTS 
WITH   OTHER   SUBJECTS 

Anyone  who  has  taught  economics,  commercial  law,  indus- 
trial history,  commercial  organization,  salesmanship,  history  of 
industry,  or  commercial  geography,  or  who  has  studied  more 
than  one  of  these  subjects,  knows  the  intimacy  with  which  the 
subject-matter  is  interrelated.  Universities  in  some  instances 
make  rather  careful  efforts  to  have  these  subjects  taught  in  such 
a  way  that  the  interrelations  may  be  as  apparent  as  possible. 
Teachers  of  these  courses  are  often  asked  to  visit,  if  not  to  take, 
allied  work.  The  Doctor 's  degree  is  not  given  until  a  sufficient 
sequence  has  been  taken  to  insure  a  somewhat  comprehensive 
point  of  view.  Such  measures,  whether  or  not  the  teacher  is 
aware  of  it,  result  in  aiding  the  student  to  fuse  into  a  unified 
intelligence  the  various  separate  courses. 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE        417 

How  far  is  an  effort  made  to  correlate  these  social-business 
courses  in  the  high  school?  A  query  attempting  to  gain 
information  on  this  matter  was  included  in  the  questionnaire. 
The  tabulated  results  are  shown  in  Table  XLIII.  Before  that 
table  is  examined,  however,  attention  should  be  called  to  the  fact 
that  the  query  regarding  correlation  was  not  answered  in  as 
many  cases  as  might  be  hoped  for.  The  returns  seemed  to 
indicate  that  the  idea  of  correlating  courses  was  unthought-of 
in  a  great  many  schools.     Even  in  schools  where  a  great  variety 

TABLE  XLIII 

Schools  not  Reporting  Correlation  Compared  with  Schools 
Which  Might  Have  Reported  Correlation 


Subject 


Number  and  Percentage  of 

Schools  Not  Reporting 

Correlation 


Number 


Percentage 


Total  Nuuber 

of  Schools 

Which  Might 

Have  Reported 

Correlation 


Industrial  history 

History  of  commerce .  . .  . 

Economics 

Commercial  geography.  . 

Commercial  law 

Business  English 

Salesmanship 

Advertising 

Conmiercial  organization , 


12 
48 
69 
76 

41 
22 

5 

7 


45-5 
40 

57-1 

57 

63-3 

52.5 

53-6 

20.4 

63.4 


44 
30 
84 
121 
120 
78 
41 
24 
II 


of  social-business  subjects  were  offered,  the  question  regarding 
correlation  of  any  of  these  subjects  was  sometimes  passed  by 
with  no  comment,  either  aflirmative  or  negative.  One  would 
be  almost  justified  in  concluding  that  in  a  considerable  number 
of  the  cases  where  no  report  was  made  regarding  correlation, 
correlation  was  absent. 

Table  XLIII  may  be  used  in  conjunction  with  Table  XLIV. 
It  indicates  the  number  and  percentage  of  schools  which  did  not 
report  correlation  as  contrasted  with  the  total  number  which 
might  have  reported  correlation  of  subjects.  This  table  needs 
little  interpretation.  The  more  recent  additions  to  the  com- 
mercial curriculum,  such  as  advertising,  seem  to  have  more 


4i8 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


frequent  correlation  than  longer-established  subjects,  such  as 
commercial  law  and  economics.  Advertising  was  reported  to 
be  correlated  with  other  subjects  in  all  but  20  per  cent  of  the 
schools  giving  it.  No  report  of  correlation  was  made  for  com- 
mercial law  in  63  per  cent  of  the  schools  reporting  on  the  ques- 
tion. No  correlation  was  reported  for  economics  in  57  per 
cent  of  the  schools  giving  the  work.  It  is  unsafe  to  generalize 
from  this,  however,  for  commercial  organization,  which  is  still 
too  new  an  addition  to  the  curriculimi  to  be  taught  in  many 

TABLE  XLIV 

Correlation  of  a  Selected  Group  of  Social-Business  Subjects 

WITH  Other  Subjects 


No.  OF 

Schools 
Report- 
ing 
Corre- 
lation 

Number  and  Percentage  of  Schools  Reporting 
Correlation  of  Commercial  Subjects  with: 

Subject 

Commercial  Sub- 
jects Only 

Other  Subjects 
Only 

Commercial  and 
Other  Subjects 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Industrial  history.... 
History  of  commerce . 

It 
36 

52 
44 
37 
19 
19 

4 

13 
16 
14 

28 
32 
25 
14 
12 

4 

54-1 
88.8 
38.8 

53.8 
72.7 

73.6 
63.1 

100 

7 

I 
10 

13 
S 
5 
3 
5 

29.1 

5. 5 

27.7 

25 

II. 3 
13.5 

26.3 

4 

I 

12 

II 

7 
7 
2 
2 

16.6 

5-5 

33.3 

21  I 

Commercial     geogra- 
phy           .... 

Commercial  law 

Business  English .... 

Salesmanship 

Advertising 

Commercial  organiza- 
tion   

is.o 

18.9 
10. s 
10. s 

schools,  is  as  isolated,  apparently,  as  is  commercial  law.  As  in 
the  case  of  the  latter  study,  commercial  organization  is  not 
reported  as  correlated  in  63  per  cent  of  the  schools  teaching  it. 
Three  possible  types  of  correlation  were  indicated  in  the  ques- 
tionnaire: correlation  with  commercial  subjects  only;  correla- 
tion with  other  subjects  only;  correlation  with  commercial  and 
other  subjects.  In  those  schools  where  correlation  is  attempted 
there  is  a  considerable  variation  of  this  sort  of  effort.  In 
every  instance  reported  there  is  more  correlation  with  tech- 
nical conunercial  subjects  than  with  other  subjects.  Com- 
mercial organization  was  reported   to  be  taught  in  correla- 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE        419 

tion  with  commercial  subjects  only,  in  100  per  cent  of  the 
cases  where  correlation  is  tried.  Commercial  law  was  re- 
ported taught  in  correlation  with  commercial  subjects  only, 
in  72  per  cent  of  the  correlation  instances,  as  compared  with  11 
per  cent  of  cases  in  which  it  is  correlated  with  other  subjects 
only,  and  15.9  per  cent  of  the  instances  of  reported  correlation 
in  which  it  is  related  both  to  commercial  and  to  other  subjects. 
History  of  commerce  is  correlated  with  technical  commercial 
subjects  in  88  per  cent,  with  other  subjects  only,  in  5.5  per  cent, 
and  with  other  subjects  and  commercial  subjects  in  5.5  per 
cent  of  the  instances  where  any  correlation  is  made.  Salesman- 
ship was  reported  correlated  with  commercial  subjects  only,  in 
73  per  cent  of  the  cases  of  correlation,  with  other  subjects  only, 
in  15.7  per  cent,  and  with  both  classes  of  subjects  in  10.5  per 
cent.  Advertising,  in  63.1  per  cent  of  the  cases,  was  reported 
correlated  with  commercial  subjects  only,  in  26.3  per  cent  with 
other  subjects  only,  and  in  10.5  per  cent  with  both  commercial 
and  other  subjects.  Business  English  is  correlated  with  business 
subjects  only,  in  67.5  per  cent  of  the  schools  that  correlate  it 
with  other  work.  It  is  correlated  in  13.5  per  cent  with  other 
subjects  only,  and  in  18.9  per  cent  with  both  classes  of  subjects. 
Commercial  geography,  in  53.8  per  cent  of  the  instances 
given,  is  correlated  with  commercial  work  only,  with  other 
subjects  only  in  25  per  cent  of  the  cases  reporting,  and  with 
commercial  and  other  subjects  in  21  per  cent  of  the  given 
instances.  Correlation  in  economics,  as  might  be  expected  from 
the  fact  that  it  is  so  frequently  taught  by  non-commercial 
teachers,  is  even  more  varied  in  correlations  than  commercial 
geography.  In  38  per  cent  of  the  cases  given  it  is  correlated 
with  commercial  subjects  alone,  in  27  per  cent  of  the  cases 
with  other  subjects  only,  and  in  exactly  one-third  of  the  given 
instances  it  is  correlated  with  commercial  and  other  subjects. 
The  correlation  attempted  with  industrial  history  is  likewise 
varied.  Fifty-four  per  cent  of  the  reporting  soKools  correlate 
this  with  nothing  but  commercial  subjects;  29  per  cent  relate 
it  to  other  subjects  only,  and  16  per  cent  combine  it  with  com- 
mercial and  other  subjects. 


420 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


Many  of  the  high  schools  in  reporting  the  correlation  which 
they  attempted  gave  specific  instances  of  courses  taught  in  com- 
bination.    Several  such  reports  of  combinations  are  given  below: 


Shorthand 

T)^ewriting 

Spelling 

Office  procedure 

Business  English 

Economics 
Commercial  law 


{Bookkeeping 
Business  arithmetic 
Penmanship 

f  Economics 
\  Civics 

/Physical  geography 


, Commercial  organization    [Commercial  geography 


/Salesmanship 
\Advertising 

{Shorthand  dictation 
Commercial  law 


(Commercial  law 
Oral  English 

(Business  forms 
Penmanship 


THREE    SPECIAL   SUBJECTS 

As  was  indicated  at  the  beginning  of  this  section,  a  question 
was  asked  to  determine  merely  the  extent  to  which  office  appli- 
ances, banking,  and  commercial  designing  are  given  in  the 
secondary-school    courses.    Table   XLV    shows    in    tabulated 


TABLE  XLV 

Number  and  Percentage  of  Schools  Giving  Work  in 

Three  Special  Subjects 

(133  schools  made  a  report  on  the  questions,  among 

which  this  was  included) 


Subject 

Office  appliances. 

Banking , 

Commercial  design , 


Percentage 


66.9 
33.8 
21.8 


form  the  repUes  received.  As  it  easily  observable  in  Table 
XXVI,  a  considerable  number  of  secondary  schools  have  intro- 
duced courses  in  these  subjects.     Especially  is  the  subject  of 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE        421 

office  appliances  widely  taught.  It  is  perhaps  surprising  to  find 
work  in  banking  given  in  a  third  of  the  secondary-school  com- 
mercial courses,  and  perhaps  as  much  so  to  see  the  position  of 
commercial  design. 

SOME  CONCLUSIONS  FROM  THE  FOREGOING  DATA 

A  number  of  general  conclusions  are  justified  from  a  review 
of  the  statistical  material  which  has  been  presented  thus  far. 
First  is  the  fact  that  the  social-business  subjects  have  found 
their  way  into  the  secondary  schools  to  a  very  considerable 
degree.  Nearly  every  subject  which  would  be  considered  as 
important  in  a  modern  university  school  of  commerce  has  found 
some  place  in  a  secondary-school  curriculum.  The  subjects  of 
this  group  which  are  most  commonly  offered  are  those  which 
have  longest  been  substantial  parts  of  college  and  university 
courses. 

A  second  general  conclusion  is  that  the  requirements  in  this 
group  of  subjects  are  not  as  extensive  as  the  offerings.  Require- 
ments are  most  extensive  in  those  subjects  which  are  most 
commonly  given.  There  seems  to  be  almost  a  direct  ratio 
between  the  percentage  of  schools  offering  and  the  percentage 
of  schools  requiring  these  subjects.  One  may  see  this  by 
contrasting  commercial  law,  which  is  offered  in  86  per  cent  of 
the  reporting  schools  and  required  in  76  per  cent  of  the  schools 
where  it  is  offered,  with  commercial  organization,  which  is 
offered  in  only  9  per  cent  of  the  reporting  schools  and  is  required 
in  only  36  per  cent  of  the  schools  offering  it.  From  these  two 
conclusions  one  might  draw  the  inference  that  although  the 
social-business  subjects  are  widely  taught,  the  definite  work 
accomplished  by  each  of  them  is  not  well  enough  defined  or 
understood  to  justify  the  organizers  of  curricula  to  build  up 
and  require  a  definite  standardized  group  of  studies  which  shall 
acquaint  the  pupil  with  his  social-business  world. 

Another  conclusion,  and  one  which  supports  the  preceding, 
is  that  the  courses  in  the  subjects  here  under  review  are  not  well 
enough  defined  to  permit  conclusions  regarding  the  length  of 
time  which  they  should  be  taught.    The  variation  in  length  of 


422  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

courses  as  they  now  exist  in  secondary  schools,  especially  in  the 
more  recently  introduced  subjects,  is  evidence  of  this. 

Social-business  subjects,  directed  and  taught  as  they  are, 
sometimes  by  strictly  commercially  minded  individuals  and 
sometimes  by  persons  of  purely  classical  training,  cannot  be 
relied  upon  to  present  any  definite  body  of  knowledge  or  con- 
sistent point  of  view.  The  evidence  would  seem  to  show  that 
no  definite  point  of  view  has  been  determined  and  that  the 
results  which  are  obtained  with  these  courses  must  be  varied  in 
the  extreme. 

The  lack  of  clearly  determined  purposes  and  methods  is 
further  indicated  by  the  limitations  which  are  reported  in  cor- 
relation. All  too  many  schools  report  no  effort  to  correlate 
subjects  having  such  intimate  connection  as  salesmanship, 
commercial  organization,  and  economics,  or  accounting,  com- 
mercial law,  and  business  organization. 

The  lack  of  correlation  also  suggests  a  great  waste  of  time 
and  effort  from  overlapping  and  duplication.  The  student 
who  studies  accounting  with  no  knowledge  of  business  organiza- 
tion must  gain  a  meager  view,  indeed,  of  the  function  of  that 
great  science.  If  the  function  of  accounting  is  presented  in 
the  class  specifically  devoted  to  that  work,  waste  of  time  is 
certain  unless  it  is  closely  related  to  the  work  done  in  business 
organization  and  commercial  law.  The  same  situation  is  true  of 
commercial  law,  industrial  history,  economics,  and  civics.  In 
each  of  these,  as  the  texts  commonly  present  the  matter,  the 
student  comes  in  contact  with  such  institutions  as  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission.  Each  book  gives  certain  facts. 
Unless  there  is  careful  correlation,  perhaps  more  careful  than  is 
conceivably  possible  with  the  present  textbooks,  there  is  much 
duplication.  Unfortunately  the  dupHcation  is  not  usually  from 
such  different  points  of  view  that  the  student's  knowledge  is 
greatly  widened.  Few,  indeed,  are  the  high-school  graduates 
who  think  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Conmiission  or  similar 
institutions  in  terms  of  function,  or  who  could  show  the  relation 
between  such  an  organization  and  overhead  costs  of  which  they 
have  learned  only  in  accounting. 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE        423 

Some  considerable  correlation  of  work,  howe\'er  exists,  and 
the  instances  which  are  reported  augur  well  for  what  may  be 
expected  in  the  future.  Handicapped  as  he  is  by  textbooks  of 
narrow  view,  pubHc  demand  of  still  more  limited  vision,  utihta- 
rian  traditions,  and  more  work  than  any  person  can  do  well,  it  is 
small  wonder  that  the  high-school  teacher  of  social-business  sub- 
jects has  not  effected  the  correlation  and  organization  of  work 
which  might  be  desired. 

Finally,  the  situation  shows  a  need  for  aid.  Aid  is  needed 
in  the  preparation  of  texts  which,  deaUng  with  this  complex 
material  of  the  social-business  world,  shall  so  organize  it  that 
duplication  can  be  largely  ehminated.  The  material  must  also 
be  organized  to  bring  out  the  subtle  interrelations  of  the  elements 
involved  so  far  as  that  is  possible.  The  subject-matter  must  be 
of  such  a  character  that  predetermined  purposes  can,  in  general, 
be  reached. 

Aid  is  also  needed,  and  from  the  outside,  for  teachers.  The 
insistent  and  too  numerous  duties  of  the  high-school  teacher  will 
not  allow  him  at  first  hand  to  effect  the  reorganization  which  is 
desirable.  A  point  of  view,  a  body  of  material,  and  even 
methods  may,  through  the  proper  machinery,  be  conveyed  to 
the  high-school  teaching  force.  It  is  only  from  those  who  are 
removed  from  the  details,  who  ''can  go  outside  of  the  house  to 
look  at  it,"  that  such  aid  can  best  come. 

POLICIES  AND  METHODS  IN  THE  HIGH-SCHOOL 
COMMERCIAL  WORK 

Inquiries  were  made  to  gather  data  on  certain  policies  and 
methods  now  employed  in  high-school  commercial  work.  Table 
XL VI  presents  a  tabulation  of  the  answers  concerning  election 
of  courses,  requirements  for  boys  and  girls  and  general  aims  of 
the  course. 

A  very  general  election  of  studies  other  than  commercial 
requirements  seems  to  prevail  in  the  business  courses  of  second- 
ary schools.  In  only  18.5  per  cent  of  the  reporting  schools  are 
commercial  students  restricted  in  their  electives,  once  their 


424 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


commercial  requirements  are  satisfactorily  met.  In  the  other 
81.5  per  cent  a  free  election  of  studies  is  allowed.  These  per- 
centages are  on  the  basis  of  119  schools  which  reported  on  this 
particular  question. 

TABLE  XLVI 

Purposes  and  Policies  in  Commercial  Courses 


Number  and  Percentage  of 

119  Reporting  Schools 

Which: 

Number  and  Percentage 

OF  112  Reporting  Schools 

Which: 

Number  and  Percentage 

OF  116  Reporting  Schools 

Which: 

Allow  General 

Election  of 

Studies  Other 

than  Commercial 

Requirements 

Restrict  Elec- 
tion Aside 

from 
Commercial 
Requirements 

Make 
Different 
Require- 
ments for 
Boys  and 

Girls 

Make  No 
Different 
Require- 
ments for 
Boys  and 
Girls 

Attempt  to 

Prepare  Only 

for  "Office 

Work" 

Attempt  to 
Fit  for  Office 
Work  and 
Business 
Administra- 
tion 

Number 

Per- 
cent- 
age 

Num- 
ber 

Per- 
cent- 
age 

Num- 
ber 

Per- 
cent- 
age 

Num- 
ber 

Per- 
cent- 
age 

Num- 
ber 

Per- 
cent- 
age 

Num- 
ber 

Per- 
cent- 
age 

97 

81. 5 

22 

18.5 

3 

2.7 

109 

97-3 

71 

61.2 

45 

38.8 

REQUIREMENTS   FOR  BOYS  AND   GIRLS 

One  hundred  twelve  schools  reported  on  the  question  relating 
to  the  different  requirements  for  boys  and  girls.  One  hundred 
nine  of  this  number,  97.3  per  cent,  reported  no  different  require- 
ments for  boys  and  girls.  Two  and  seven-tenths  per  cent  make 
some  difference  in  requirements  for  the  sexes.  The  significance 
of  the  situation  is  apparent  when  one  compares  the  demands  in 
business  for  boys  with  the  demands  made  upon  girls.  The  dif- 
ference has  been  presented  at  some  length  in  the  chapters  dealing 
with  "What  Business  Says  It  Wants." 


CERTAIN  METHODS  USED  IN  COMMERCIAL  TEACHING 

Table  XL VII  presents  a  tabulation  of  the  replies  received 
to  queries  concerning  certain  methods  employed  in  teaching 
commercial  subjects.  As  this  table  shows,  nearly  three-quarters 
of  the  reporting  schools  use  lecturers  from  business  life  as  a 
means  of  aiding  in  commercial  work.    Approximately  two- 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE 


425 


thirds  of  the  schools  which  rephed  to  this  query  indicate  the  use 
of  business  pubHcations. 

TABLE  XLVII 
Certain  Methods  Used  in  Commercial  Work 


Lecturers  from  Business  Life 
(no  Reporting) 

Business  Publications 
(104  Reporting) 

Tests  in  Typewriting  and 
Stenography  Other  than 

Teacher's  Judgment 
(117  Schools  Reporting) 

Number  Schools 
Using 

Percentage  of 

Those 

Reporting 

Number 
Schools  Using 

Percentage  of 

Those 

Reporting 

Number 
Schools  Using 

Percentage  of 

Those 

Reporting 

81 

73.6 

68 

65.3 

70         1       59.8 

TESTS 

The  question  of  standardized  measurements  in  all  educa- 
tional work  is  one  of  increasing  importance.  In  response  to  the 
question  concerning  the  use  of  tests  other  than  the  teacher's 
judgments,  59.8  per  cent  of  the  schools  replying  reported  the 
use  of  tests.  These  replies  gave  indications  that  the  tests 
employed  are  usually  those  furnished  by  textbook  and  machine 
companies,  such  as  the  Gregg  shorthand  tests  and  the  Under- 
wood tests  in  typewriting.  So  far  as  can  be  ascertained, 
scientific  tests  to  measure  progress  in  skill  under  standardized 
conditions  have  not  been  worked  out  and  are  not  appUed.  As 
has  been  already  intimated,  no  one  has  yet  proved  what  the 
proper  length  of  the  typewriting  and  stenographic  courses 
should  be.  Neither  has  the  skill  which  should  be  acquired 
with  definite  hours  of  work  been  ascertained. 


TEXTBOOKS   IN  THE   SOCIAL-BUSINESS   SUBJECTS 

Evidence  in  plenty  was  given  in  the  returned  questionnaires 
to  show  that  many  of  the  textbooks  now  available  for  use  in 
teaching  social-business  subjects  in  the  secondary  schools  are 
not  satisfactory.  The  authors  of  textbooks  are  frequently 
more  mindful  of  their  academic  reputation  with  their  colleagues 
than  of  the  Hmited  abiHty  of  high-school  students  and  the 
limited   opportunities   and   occupied   energies   of   high-school 


426  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

teachers.  The  result  is  often  a  type  of  text  which  is  likely  to  be 
somewhat  authoritative  upon  the  subject  but  unserviceable  in 
its  supposed  mission. 

The  lack  of  proper  texts  is  well  appreciated  as  among  the 
difficulties  of  high-school  teachers  and  principals.  In  the  reports 
received  on  "difficulties  or  problems  in  the  work"  such  com- 
ments as  the  following  are  to  be  found: 

"It  is  difficult  to  find  a  good  text  that  is  not  too  difficult  for  the 
second-year  students." 

"Lack  of  reference  books." 
"No  suitable  textbook  exists." 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  no  school  reported  a  difficulty 
with  its  commercial-law  books.  No  great  amount  of  criticism 
of  existing  texts  was  reported  in  connection  with  the  difficulties 
in  teaching  advertising  and  business  writing.  In  all  other  fields 
specific  criticisms  were  frequent.^ 

OTHER    REPORTED    DIFFICULTIES    IN    SOCIAL-BUSINESS    SUBJECTS 

Better  textbooks  are  not  the  only  need  in  a  reorganized  pro- 
gram for  teaching  social-business  subjects  in  the  secondary 
schools.  The  crowded  curriculum,  the  Hmited  ability  of  young 
students,  the  lack  of  required  prerequisites  for  certain  courses, 
the  attitude  of  the  universities  in  the  matter  of  admission 
requirements,  as  weU  as  the  limitations  in  hbrary,  laboratory, 
and  museum  equipment,  are  mentioned  among  the  handicaps 
of  teachers. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Electives  for  commercial  students  are,  aside  from  the 
requirements  of  the  commercial  course,  usually  quite  open  and 
free.  Is  this  to  the  advantage  or  disadvantage  of  the  student  ? 
It  may  well  be  contended  that  the  commercial  student  complet- 
ing the  technical  work  required  of  him  may  through  the  use  of 
his  free  electives  acquire  a  fairly  broad  training.    There  is  no 

^  For  a  more  elaborate  discussion  of  this  matter  the  reader  is  referred 
to  the  author's  monograph,  A  Survey  of  Commercial  Edtication  in  the  United 
States,  chap.  iv.  The  business-English  situation  was  given  special  atten- 
tion in  an  article  in  the  English  Journal,  November,  1918. 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE        427 

doubt  that  the  opportunity  of  choosing  subjects  outside  of  his 
own  field  of  work  is  often  an  advantage  to  the  commercial 
student.  But  it  is  quite  as  likely  that  the  free  election  so  widely 
given  works  to  the  student's  disadvantage.  The  miscellaneous 
and  assorted  fragments  from  which  the  student  is  permitted  to 
choose  offer  no  certainty  of  a  well-balanced  intellectual  meal. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  that  much  more  satisfactory  results 
could  be  obtained  from  a  wisely  directed  scheme  of  requirements, 
having  a  predetermined  object,  and  controlling  in  considerable 
measure  the  intellectual  environment  which  surrounds  the 
student.  Free  election  of  studies  in  the  commercial  course,  as 
elsewhere,  is  quite  consistent  with  our  somewhat  overworked 
poHcy  of  laissez  faire.  Under  the  influence  of  thinking  in 
evolutionary  terms  laissez  faire  is,  however,  giving  place  to 
regulation,  and  under  che  influence  of  prescience  in  thought  it 
is  giving  place  to  planning.  More  prescient  elements  are  needed 
in  training  for  business.  But  the  real  function  of  such  elements 
can  be  accomplished  only  by  definite  requirements. 

There  is  a  need  for  different  work  for  boys  and  girls.  Almost 
no  schools  differentiate  the  courses  for  boys  and  girls  or  offer 
specialized  training  to  meet  the  demands  made  upon  boys.  Yet 
a  large  number  of  schools  agree,  and  their  behef  is  borne  out  by 
other  studies,  that  boys  eventually  perform  quite  a  different 
function  in  business  than  falls  to  the  lot  of  women. 

A  vision  of  the  social  significance  of  business  has  not  been 
put  before  the  high-school  teaching  staff.  But  little  material 
to  teach  of  business  as  a  social  activity  has  been  prepared  in 
form  suitable  for  high-school  use. 

Finally,  no  secondary  institution  has  organized  really  thor- 
oughgoing courses  clearly  designed  to  train  for  business  adminis- 
tration. The  example  has  not  been  set,  and  in  education,  as 
elsewhere,  progress  is  made  through  imitation  quite  as  rapidly 
as  it  is  induced  by  homihes. 

The  fact  that  a  great  many  secondary  commercial  teachers 
use  hterature  and  speakers  from  the  business  world  shows  an 
interest  in  improvement  even  though  such  methods  may  have 
little  value.     In  the  use,  or  rather  the  lack  of  use,  of  standard- 


428  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

ized  tests  the  directors  of  secondary  business  courses  are  not 
necessarily  at  fault.  Real  tests  with  a  scientific  basis  are 
lacking,  and  it  is  a  matter  for  some  commendation  that  such 
tests  as  are  available  are  used  by  more  than  half  of  the  secondary 
schools..  It  is  unfortunate,  however,  that  satisfactory  tests 
are  not  available  and  are  not  in  use.  There  is  little  in  the  com- 
mercial course  as  at  present  organized  to  lead  a  child  toward  the 
fields  of  higher  education.  In  addition,  commercial  graduates 
are,  very  commonly,  not  prepared  for  college.  Universities  will 
not  accept,  in  many  instances,  the  technical  courses  for  college- 
entrance  requirements.  This  last  matter  is  only  another  of 
the  ways  in  which  the  commercial  student  is  given  a  faulty 
training.  Lured  frequently  into  a  narrow  technical  course  by 
the  false  caption  ''Training  for  Business,"  the  student,  youthful 
and  impressionable,  is  given  no  view  of  the  tremendous  social 
significance  of  his  work,  and  is  turned  out  lacking  the  desire  for 
more  education  or,  having  it,  unquaHfied  to  proceed. 

In  the  chapters  immediately  following  we  shall  examine  a 
series  of  plans  that  are  in  operation  tending  to  extend  or  improve 
the  typical  high-school  commercial  course.  In  the  final  chapter 
curriculum  reform  in  the  high-school  commercial  course  is 
considered. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  What  advantage  can  you  see  in  studying  the  high-school  commer- 
cial course  under  two  phases:  (a)  typical  course;  (b)  modern 
extensions  ? 

2.  What  types  of  short  courses  were  reported  ?  Distinguish  between 
these. 

3.  What  variations  in  length  exist  in  the  short  courses?  How 
would  you  account  for  such  variations  ? 

4.  What  conclusions  are  justified  from  a  study  of  the  length  of  time 
required  for  technical  subjects  in  four-year  commercial  courses? 

5.  How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  English  is  almost  univer- 
sally required  through  the  commercial  courses  ? 

6.  What  conclusions  do  you  reach  from  a  study  of  the  non-technical 
subjects  in  the  short  courses  ? 

7.  Explain  what  is  meant  by  the  heading  used  in  classifying  the  non- 
technical subjects  in  the  four-year  course. 


TYPICAL  HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSE        429 

8.  What  conclusions  do  you  reach  from  a  study  of  the  non-technical 
subjects  in  the  four-year  course  ? 

9.  Does  it  make  any  difference  whether  or  not  students  are  given 
any  of  the  non-technical  subjects  in  their  conunercial  course  ? 

10.  Does  it  make  any  difference  whether  non-technical  subjects 
come  early  or  late  in  the  commercial  course  ? 

11.  What  is  your  reaction  toward  the  "conclusions"  given  on  page 
406? 

12.  Of  the  group  of  social-business  subjects  discussed,  what  ones 
have  taken  the  most  important  hold  in  high-school  courses  ? 

13.  What  facts  were  brought  out  by  the  inquiry  concerning  the  rela- 
tion of  requirements  and  offerings  of  social-business  subjects  ? 

14.*  Does  the  data  given  indicate  that  courses  in  social-business  subjects 
have  reached  a  point  where  they  can  be  said  to  be  a  part  of  a 
well-considered  and  balanced  program  ? 

15.  Is  it  pertinent  to  inquire  what  department  and  what  type  of 
teacher  teaches  the  various  social-business  subjects?  Is  this 
inquiry  given  any  pertinence  by  the  unorganized  condition  of  the 
material  and  the  limitations  of  existing  textbooks  ? 

16.  What  do  you  understand  to  be  the  meaning  of  correlation  of  two 
subjects  ?  Give  an  example  of  how  a  correlation  at  some  one  or 
more  points  might  be  effected  in  two  subjects  with  which  you  are 
familiar. 

17.  What  is  your  reaction  toward  the  conclusions  given  on  pages 
421  and  422. 

18.  Is  it  your  feeling  that  requirements  as  contrasted  with  election  of 
studies  in  the  commercial  course  should  be  increased  or  lessened  ? 

19.  How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  so  few  schools  make  any 
different  requirements  for  boys  and  girls  ? 

20.  List  the  difficulties  which  stand  in  the  way  of  thoroughgoing 
study  of  social-business  subjects  in  the  secondary-school  com- 
mercial course. 

21.  What  facts  do  you  observe  that  seem  to  you  to  point  toward 
improvement  in  secondary  business  education  ? 

22.  What  would  you  think  of  a  proposal  to  teach  no  technical  sub- 
jects such  as  stenography  and  typewriting  in  the  commercial 
course  of  the  secondary  school  ? 

23.  What  would  you  think  of  a  proposal  to  teach  technical  subjects 
only  in  the  last  year  of  the  high-school  commercial  course  ? 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE 

The  rapid  development  of  commercial  courses  in  secondary 
schools  led  naturally  enough  to  interest  in  high  schools  definitely 
devoted  to  business  work. 

The  first  high  school  of  commerce  connected  with  a  system 
of  schools  and  wholly  supported  by  pubhc  funds  was  the  Busi- 
ness High  School  of  Washington,  D.C.  This  school  was  estab- 
lished in  1890.  The  report  of  the  Business  High  School  for 
1890-91  showed  that  310  students  were  enrolled  the  first  year, 
160  boys  and  150  girls.  From  1892  throughout  the  decade, 
the  superintendent  of  public  schools  of  Philadelphia  stood  out 
for  his  advocation  of  the  estabHshment  of  a  commercial  high 
school  in  that  city.  Brooklyn  and  New  York,  however,  were 
the  next  cities  to  estabHsh  commercial  high  schools.  High 
schools  of  commerce  in  these  two  cities  were  authorized  at  the 
same  time.  The  Brooklyn  High  School  was  opened  in  1899. 
The  High  School  of  Conmierce  of  the  City  of  New  York  was 
under  construction  from  1900  to  1901  and  in  1902  reported 
410  pupils. 

Philadelphia  was  next,  establishing  the  Commercial  High 
School  in  1897.^  In  1906  the  Boston  School  Committee  "under- 
took the  realization  of  such  a  school,"  and  in  the  same  year 
the  Boston  High  School  of  Commerce  was  established.^  Inter- 
est in  speciahzed  schools  of  commerce  spread  until  there  are  nowf  1^* 
in  the  United  States  about  twenty  such  schools.  Nearly  half  of. 
these  have  come  into  existence  within  the  last  five  or  six  years. 

PURPOSES   UNDERLYING  HIGH   SCHOOLS   OF  COMMERCE 

In  attempting  to  arrive  at  the  purpose  and  role  of  high 
schools  of  commerce,  it  is  useful  to  look  at  some  of  the  state- 

» This  school  has  since  become  known  as  the  William  Penn  High  School. 

'  These  data  were  collected  from  reports  of  the  superintendents  of 
education  of  the  cities  concerned  and  from  correspondence. 

430 


THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE  431 

ments  made  by  persons  responsible  for  their  organization  and 
direction.  The  statements  given  below  have  been  compiled 
from  courses  of  study  and  other  literature  of  business  high 
schools  in  1922. 

City  A 

The  distinctive  purpose  of  the  business  high  school  is  to  give 
business  training  leading  directly  to  self-support.  Emphasis  is 
laid  upon  the  business  arts:  penmanship,  spelling,  commercial  draw- 
ing, arithmetic,  bookkeeping,  accounting,  shorthand,  typewriting,  and 
office  methods.  In  the  four-year  course  these  are  supplemented  by 
studies  leading  to  an  understanding  of  modern  industrial  activities 
and  relations. 

City  B 

The  object  of  the  high  school  of  commerce  is  to  give  boys  and 
girls  a  sound  preparation  for  commercial  life.  To  accomplish  this 
purpose  the  course  provides  instruction  of  two  kinds:  first,  in  general 
high-school  subjects;  second,  instruction  in  high-school  grade  in  the 
special  subject,  commerce.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  the 
general  subjects  are  all  taught  with  the  constant  view  of  preparing 
the  student  to  use  them  in  business  life.  In  like  manner  all  instruc- 
tion in  the  school  is  made  to  serve  the  special  vocational  purpose  for 
which  the  school  exists. 

CityC 

The  high  school  of  commerce  is  a  training-school  for  those  boys 
and  girls  who  are  desirous  of  fitting  themselves  for  positions  in  the 
business  world.  The  school  prepares  for  stenographic,  bookkeeping, 
and  general  office  and  store  positions,  giving  the  thorough  and  com- 
plete training  which  is  demanded  today  of  the  beginning  office 
worker. 

One  of  the  features  of  the  school  is  its  equipment  of  modern 
office  machines  and  apphances,  such  as  adding  and  calculating 
machines,  bookkeeping  machines,  duplicators,  dictating  machines, 
filing  equipment,  etc.  It  is  iinusual  nowadays  to  find  an  office  without 
one  or  more  of  these  special  machines.  Consequently  it  is  essential 
to  have  acquaintance  with  and  training  on  these  modern  devices  if 
one  wishes  to  be  thoroughly  prepared  for  office  work. 

The  complete  course  is  four  years  in  length  and  fits  the  pupil 
for  the  best  type  of  office  positions.  It  is  possible,  however,  to  take 
a  shorter  course  of  three,  or  even  two,  years  and  receive  valuable 


432  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

preparation.     Particularly  is  this  true  in  the  case  of  pupils  who  are 
more  mature  than  the  average  eighth-grade  graduate. 

City  D 

The  high  school  offers  a  four  years'  course  as  a  preparation  for 
business.  A  general  high-school  education  is  combined  with  thorough 
training  in  penmanship,  bookkeeping,  shorthand,  and  typewriting. 

The  work  in  commercial  lines  is  begun  in  the  first  year  with  special 
attention  to  business  Enghsh,  penmanship,  and  elementary  bookkeep- 
ing. Bookkeeping  may  be  continued  throughout  the  four  years, 
typewriting  is  begun  the  second  year,  shorthand  the  third.  Other 
work,  commercial  and  academic,  is  pursued  at  the  same  time. 

Students  who  graduate  are  qualified  as  bookkeepers,  salesmen, 
and  stenographers  and  typists.  The  school  aims,  however,  not  only 
to  train  office  and  store  workers,  but  also  to  fit  for  the  manufacturing, 
mercantile,  and  general  business  life  of  the  community. 

City  E 

This  pamphlet  is  designed  to  assist  pupils  and  parents  in  making 
a  choice  of  the  courses  of  study  as  offered  by  the  commercial  high 
school. 

There  are  two  courses  of  study  provided  for  pupils  who  expect 
to  remain  four  years  in  the  high  school.  These  are  Hsted  as  four- 
year  diploma  courses.  For  students  who  can  remain  two  years  there 
is  provided  the  commercial  certificate  course.  This  course  offers 
preparation  for  stenographic  or  bookkeeping  work,  also  for  steno- 
bookkeeping  positions. 

To  obtain  any  adequate  knowledge  of  the  work  done  in 
high  schools  of  commerce  in  the  United  States,  a  personal 
investigation  is  necessary.  No  report  concerning  the  high 
schools  of  commerce  is  provided  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Education,  or  any  other  general  agency.  In  an  effort  to  secure 
information  relating  to  the  courses  given  in  these  institutions, 
therefore,  a  questionnaire  was  used  by  the  writer.  -  The  ques- 
tionnaire was  sent  out  at  about  the  same  time  that  the  data 
presented  in  Chapter  XV  were  gathered.  Information  was 
secured  from  all  but  two  or  three  high  schools  of  commerce  in 
existence  at  that  time.  A  number  of  new  high  schools  of  com- 
merce have  come  into  existence  since,  and  some  of  the  high 


THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE 


433 


schools  of  commerce  have  made  rather  radical  changes  m  their 
programs.  A  careful  effort  has  been  made,  however,  to  compare 
the  courses  of  most  of  the  newer  high  schools  of  commerce  with 
the  generalizations  reached  as  a  result  of  the  survey,  and  also 
to  compare  the  recent  statements  of  courses  of  study  with  the 
ones  submitted  about  four  years  ago.  While  there  is  an  occa- 
sional sharp  divergence,  the  comparison  of  the  original  material 
with  the  most  recent  information  shows  few  important  changes. 
It  may  be  believed,  therefore,  that  the  statements  made  are 
reasonably  valid. 

LENGTH  OF  COURSES   IN  COMMERCIAL  HIGH  SCHOOLS 

An  examination  of  Table  XL VIII  shows  that  there  is  a  con- 
siderable lack  of  uniformity  in  the  length  of  time  required  in 
different  commercial  high  schools  for  teaching  technical  sub- 
jects.   The  variation  in  the  length  of  courses  is  not  so  great  as 

TABLE  XLVIII 

Length  of  Time  Required  for  Technical  Subjects  in 

Commercial  High  Schools 

(lo  Schools  Reporting) 


Years 

Book- 
keeping 

Type- 
writing 

Stenography 
9  Schools 
Reporting 

Commerciai, 
Arithmetic 

Pen- 
manship 

REQtJIRED 

Num- 
ber 

Per- 
cent- 
age 

Num- 
ber 

Per- 
cent- 
age 

Num- 
ber 

Per- 

cent- 
age 

Num- 
ber 

Per- 
cent- 
age 

Num- 
ber 

Per- 
cent- 
age 

} 

3 
4 
2 
I 

30 
40 
20 
10 

2 

20 

li 

3 

20 
30 

40 

lO 

10 
10 
10 

'5 

55. 5 

2} 

a    

40 

3        33-3 

3*::::::::::::; 

4    

10 

I      .11.1 

j 

Some  time 

8 

80 

1 

that  found  in  the  commercial  courses  in  general  high  schools, 
but  it  is  sufficiently  noticeable  to  indicate  that  matters  of 
organization,  habit,  and  imitation  have  been  as  important  as 
well-considered  judgment  or  sound  standards  in  determining 
the  length  of  courses. 


434  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Four  of  the  ten  schools  reporting  on  this  question  give  a 
two-year  course  in  bookkeeping.  Two  of  the  ten  limit  the 
course  to  one  year.  Every  conceivable  variation  between  two 
and  four  years  is  to  be  found  represented.  One  school  gives  a 
course  of  two  and  a  half  years  in  bookkeeping,  one  a  course  of 
three  years,  one  of  three  and  a  half  years,  and  one  a  course 
four  years  in  length. 

The  distribution  in  length  of  courses  is  almost  as  great  in 
typewriting.  Not  a  single  school  reports  teaching  typewriting 
in  less  than  one  and  one-half  years.  Two  schools  use  that 
length  of  time;  three,  or  30  per  cent  of  the  total,  require  two 
years;  four  institutions  spread  typewriting  over  three  years; 
while  one  of  them  requires  four  years  of  work  in  typewriting. 

Stenography  in  high  schools  of  commerce  is  likewise  treated 
as  a  course  which  requires  an  extended  period  for  its  study. 
Nine  schools  only  reported  on  stenography,  and  over  55  per 
cent  of  these  required  two  years'  work  in  this  subject.  Three 
schools,  a  third  of  those  reporting,  require  that  stenography 
be  studied  for  three  years,  while  one  makes  it  a  four-year 
subject. 

Commercial  arithmetic  is  not  given  as  extended  treatment 
in  high  schools  of  commerce  as  bookkeeping  and  stenography. 
One  school  gives  two  years  of  this  work,  two  a  year  and  one- 
half,  four  schools  have  a  one-year  course,  and  three  schools 
cover  the  ground  in  one-half  year. 

Penmanship  as  a  highly  organized  undertaking  does  not 
appear  to  enter  the  curricula  of  commercial  high  schools.  Eight 
of  the  ten  reporting  schools  stated  that  ''some  time"  was  given 
to  this  subject. 

NON-TECHNICAL  SUBJECTS   IN  COMMERCIAL  HIGH  SCHOOLS 

As  has  been  stated  in  connection  with  the  commercial  course 
in  high  schools,  it  seems  advisable  to  discuss  English  as  a  non- 
technical subject  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  has  certain  technical 
aspects.  Table  XLIX  shows  that  English  has  a  value  well 
recognized  in  high  schools  of  commerce.  Seventy  per  cent  of 
the  reporting  schools  require  four  years  of  this  subject,  one 


THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE 


435 


school  requires  three  and  one-half  years,  one  other  three  years; 
a  single  school  finds  two  years  of  English  to  be  enough. 

TABLE  XLIX 

Number  of  Years  or  English  Required  in  Commercial  High  Schools 

(lo  Schools  Reporting) 


4  Years 

3§  Years 

3  Years 

2  Years 

Number 
Schools 

Percent- 
age 

Number 
Schools 

Percent- 
age 

Number 
Schools 

Percent- 
age 

Number 
Schools 

Percent- 
age 

7 

70 

T 

lO 

I 

ID 

I 

lO 

CONSIDERATION  OF   SOCIAL-BUSINESS   SUBJECTS 

Certain  subjects  dealing  with  a  combination  of  social  and 
business  factors  have  been  selected  for  treatment  in  this  dis- 
cussion of  commercial  high  schools  in  much  the  same  manner 

TABLE  L 

Requirements  and  Electives  in  a  Selected  Group  of 
Social-Business  Subjects 


Number 
Offering 

Required 

Elective 

Subject 

Number 

Percentage 
of  Those 
Offering 

Number 

Percentage 
of  Those 
Offering 

Industrial  history 

History  of  commerce 

Economics 

5 
6 
8 

lO 

9 

6 

2 

4 

7 

5 
6 

7 

2 

I 

4 

7 

lOO 
lOO 

62.5 

8o 

77-7 

33-3 

50 
100 
100 

0 
0 

3 
2 
2 
4 

I 
0 
0 

0 
0 

37.5 
20 
22  .2 

Commercial  geography.  .  . 
Commercial  law 

Salesmanship 

Advertising     .  .        

66.6 

0 
0 

Commercial  organization.  . 
Business  English 

as  they  were  treated  in  the  discussion  of  the  business  course  in 
high  schools.  The  requirements  and  electives  in  this  selected 
group  of  subjects,  as  they  were  reported  by  the  high  schools  of 
commerce,  are  set  forth  in  Table  L. 


436  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

An  examination  of  this  table  will  indicate  that  not  a  single 
one  of  this  list  of  subjects  has  so  well  established  itself  as  ne- 
cessary for  proper  business  training  as  to  be  required  in  all  of 
the  high  schools  of  commerce  replying  to  the  questionnaire. 
Commercial  geography  is  offered  in  all  of  the  schools  and  com- 
mercial law  in  90  per  cent  of  them,  but  in  two  instances  each  of 
these  subjects  are  made  elective.  Commercial  organization, 
business  EngHsh,  industrial  history,  and  history  of  commerce 
are  the  subjects  which  are  required  in  every  instance  where 
they  are  reported  as  being  offered;  but,  in  the  first  case,  only 
four  schools  offer  the  subject,  while  business  EngHsh  is  offered 
in  only  seven  schools,  and  industrial  history  and  history  of 
commerce  are  given  in  five  and  six  schools  respectively. 
Eight  schools  reported  that  economics  is  offered,  and  five 
of  these  require  that  the  subject  be  taken.  Salesmanship 
is  required  in  one- third  of  the  instances  in  which  it  is 
offered,  and  advertising  in  one  out  of  the  two  instances 
reported. 

The  length  of  courses  given  in  these  subjects  shows  almost 
as  little  standardization  as  was  noticed  in  the  study  of  the 
technical  courses.  Industrial  history  extends  over  two  years 
in  one  instance,  in  two  cases  is  taught  for  a  year,  and  in  two 
cases  for  a  year  and  a  haff.  History  of  commerce  is  taught 
for  a  year  in  five  out  of  the  six  schools  reporting  the  subject. 
Economics  is  a  three-year  course  in  one  school,  a  one-year  course 
in  four  schools,  and  a  half-year  course  in  three  schools.  Five 
of  the  high  schools  of  commerce  require  commercial  geography 
for  a  year,  in  three  instances  it  is  a  half-year  course,  in  one 
instance  a  two-and-a-half-year  course,  and  in  one  school  it  is 
reported  as  being  three-fifths  of  a  year  in  length.  Commercial 
law  has  established  itself  as  a  one-semester  course  in  more  than 
half  of  the  schools  where  it  is  given,  five  schools  giving  courses  of 
that  length.  Three  schools  give  the  subject  for  a  year,  and  one 
for  two  fifths  of  a  year.  Salesmanship  is  a  one-year  course  in  five 
out  of  the  six  cases,  and  a  half-year  course  in  the  other  instance. 
Advertising  divides  evenly  between  one-year  and  half-year 
courses.     Commercial-organization  courses  vary  from  one-half 


THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE 


437 


year  to  two  years,  while  courses  in  business  English  range  from 
one-half  year  to  four  years. 

TABLE  LI 
Lengths  of  Courses  of  a  Selected  Group  of  Social-Business  Subjects 


Subject 


Length 

OF 

Course 

IN 

Years 


Schools  Offering 

Courses  of  Each 

Length 


Number 


Percentage 
of  Those 
Reporting 


Industrial  history  (5  schools  reporting) 

History  of  commerce  (6  schools  reporting) 

Economics  (8  schools  reporting) 

Commercial  geography  (10  schools  reporting) . 

Commercial  law  (9  schools  reporting) 

Salesmanship  (6  schools  reporting) 

Advertising  (2  schools  reporting) 

Commercial  organization  (4  schools  reporting) 

Business  English  (8  schools  reporting) 


20 
40 
40 

83.3 
16.6 

12.5 

50 

37-5 

10 
50 
10 
30 

33-3 
55-5 
II. I 

83.3 
16.6 

50 
50 

25 

25 

50 


37-5 
12.5 
37-5 
12. 5 


If  anything,  this  variation  in  length  of  courses  in  these 
subjects  is  more  marked  and  striking  in  the  high  schools  of 
commerce  than  it  is  in  commercial  courses  in  high  schools.     If 


438 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


not  actually  more  varied,  it  is  striking  that  there  should  be  so 
much  variation  in  what  is  supposed  to  be  the  leading  type  of 
institution  in  the  field  of  secondary  education,  and  especially 
that  such  variety  should  be  found  when  the  total  number  of 
instances  examined  is  so  small. 

CORRELATION   OF  COURSES 

The  same  consideration  is  given  correlation  here  as  was 
given  to  it  in  the  preceding  chapter.  The  data  are  perhaps 
less  significant  because  the  number  of  schools  considered  is  so 
much  smaller.  Roughly,  half  of  the  schools  which  might  have 
reported  correlation  of  the  social-business  subjects  with  other 
social  subjects  or  with  technical  or  academic  subjects  did  not 
so  report.    Table  LII  presents  the  percentage  of  schools  not 

TABLE  LII 

Schools  Not  Reporting  Correlation  Compared  with  Schools  Which 
Might  Have  Reported  Correlation 


SXJBJECT 

Schools  Not  Reporting 
Correlation 

Total  Number 
OF  Schools 

Which 
Might  Have 

Number 

Percentage 

Reported 
Correlation 

Industrial  history 

History  of  commerce 

T 

4 
3 

5 
4 
3 

I 

2 

4 

20 

66.6 

37-5 

50 

44-4 

50 

50 

50 

50 

5 
6 

Economics 

8 

Commercial  geography 

Commercial  law 

10 

9 
6 

Salesmanship 

Advertising 

2 

Commercial  organization 

Business  English 

4 
8 

reporting  correlation  compared  with  the  schools  which  might 
have  reported  correlation  in  these  subjects. 

Table  LIII  presents  in  somewhat  detailed  form  the  number 
of  schools  reporting  correlation  of  each  of  the  selected  social- 
business  subjects  with  commercial  subjects  only,  other  subjects 
only,  and  with  commercial  and  other  subjects.    The  amount 


THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE 


439 


of  data  is  somewhat  too  small  to  make  general  observations 
of  great  value.  It  is  interesting,  however,  to  observe  what 
a  variety  of  attempts  are  made.  In  so  far  as  this  may  rep- 
resent the  different  interests  of  different  instructors,  it  should 
probably  be  considered  as  a  hopeful  sign.  In  so  far  as  it  is  an 
indication  of  a  lack  of  clear  planning  and  a  lack  of  definite 

TABLE  LIII 

Correlation  of  a  Selected  Group  of  Social-Business  Subjects  with 
Other  Subjects 


Number 
OF  Schools 
Report- 
ing 
Correla- 
tion 

Number  and  Percentage  of  Schools  Reporting 
Correlation  of  Commerctal  Subjects 

Subject 

With 

Commercial 

Subjects  Only 

With 

Other  Subjects 

Only 

With 
Commercial  and 
Other  Subjects 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Number 

Percent- 
age 

Industrial  history.... 
History  of  commerce . 

4 

2 

5 

5 
5 
3 

I 

2 

4 

2 

1 
I 

3 
4 

I 

2 
2 

so 
SO 

20 

6o 
8o 
33.3 

lOO 
lOO 

SO 

o 

I 

2 

I 

o 
SO 
40 

20 

2 

SO 

2 

I 
I 

Commercial     geogra- 

20 

Salesmanship 

2 

66.6 

Advertising 

Commercial  organiza- 

Business  English    . . . 

2 

50 

standards  it  is  a  less  satisfactory  showing.  The  specific  t3T)es 
of  correlation  reported  are  not  greatly  different  from  those 
already  shown  in  the  discussion  of  the  commercial  course  in  the 
high  school  (p.  416). 

SOME  CURRENT  COURSES 

Three  courses  as  now  given  in  the  high  schools  of  commerce 
are  presented  as  illustrative  of  the  present  work  in  such  schools. 
The  first  is  the  1922  program  of  the  High  School  of  Commerce 
of  Washington,  D.C.  This,  it  will  be  remembered,  is  the  oldest 
of  the  high  schools  of  commerce  of  the  country,  and  indicates 
the  point  at  which  this  school  has  arrived  since  1890.  This 
outUne  is  taken  from  a  printed  course  of  study  of  the  school. 


440 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


high  'ichool  of  commerce,  washington,  d.c. 
Course  of  Study,  1922 


FIRST 

YEAR 

First  Semester 

Second  Semester 

Recs. 

Credits 

Recs. 

Credits 

wSk 

Sem. 

per 
Week 

SL 

*Bookkeeping  or 

Bookkeeping  or  Short 

tShorthand 

5 

hand 

5 

Business  Arithmetic 

5 

Physical  Geography 

5 

English 

5 

English 

5 

Typewriting 

5 

Typewriting 

S 

Drawing 

5 

Penmanship 

5 

Physical  Training 

I 

Physical  Training 

I 

Physical  Training 

3 

Physical  Training 

3 

Military  DriU 

3 

SECONI 

Military  Drill 

)   YEAR 

3 

Third  Semester 

Fourth  Semester 

Recs. 

Credits 

Recs. 

CrediU 

wSk 

Sem. 

W^4 

per 
bem. 

♦Bookkeeping  or 

Bookkeeping  or 

Shorthand 

5 

I 

Shorthand 

5 

fBookkeeping  or  Busi- 

Bookkeeping or  Busi- 

ness Arithmetic 

5 

I 

ness  Arithmetic 

5 

Commercial  Geog- 

Commercial Law 

5 

raphy 

5 

I 

English 

5 

English 

S 

I 

Typewriting 

5 

Typewriting 

5 

i 

Physical  Training 

I 

Physical  Training 

I 

1 

Physical  Training 

3 

Physical  Training 

3 

\ 

Military  Drill 

3 

MiUtary  Drill 

3 

1 

4 

*  Pupils  who  elect  Bookkeeping  in  the  first  year  must  continue 
it  in  the  second. 

fPupils  who  elect  Shorthand  in  the  first  year  must  take  Book- 
keeping instead  of  Arithmetic  in  the  second. 

Pupils  who  obtain  seventeen  credits  in  the  first  year  will  be 
awarded  the  school  certificate. 


THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE 


441 


THIRD  YEAR 

FOURTH  YEAR 

Fifth  and  Sixth  Semesters 

Seventh  and  Eighth  Semesters 

Recs. 

Credits 

Recs. 

Credits 

\^ek 

per 
bem 

•\ 

^v 

Sem 

English 

5 

English 

5 

I 

Bidogy  or  Physics 

5 

American  History  and 

Accounting  and 

Commercial  Problems 

5 

Finance 

5 

Business  Organization 

5 

Algebra 

5 

Geometry 

5 

General  and  Com- 

Office Training  and 

mercial  History 

5 

Shorthand 

5 

Spanish 

5 

Typewriting 

5 

Shorthand 

5 

Spanish 

5 

Typewriting 

5 

\ 

Chemistry 

S 

Physical  Training 

I 

\ 

Physical  Training 

I 

Physical  Training 

3 

\ 

Physical  Training 

3 

Military  Drill 

3 

\ 

Military  Drill 

3 

Pupils  who  obtain  thirty-four  credits  will  be  awarded  the  school 
diploma. 

Subjects  italicized  are  prescribed. 

Spanish,  Algebra,  and  Geometry  should  be  elected  by  pupils  who 
intend  to  pursue  a  college  course. 

Pupils  must  take  either  Accounting  and  Finance  in  the  third 
year  or  Business  Organization  in  the  fourth  year. 

A  second  course  of  study  here  shown  is  given  to  illustrate 
the  work  offered  in  a  fairly  new  school  of  commerce  and  one  in 
which  the  two-year,  three-year,  and  four-year  business  courses 
are  all  given. 

WILKINS   HIGH   SCHOOL   OF   COMMERCE,    DETROIT,    MICHIGAN 

Course  of  Study 

TWO  YEAR  shorthand  COURSE 

First  Year 

Second  Semester 


First  Semester 

Recitations 
per  Week 

Arithmetic  1 5 

English  I 5 

Commercial  Geography  5 
Penmanship  and  Book- 
keeping    10 

Typewriting  1 5 


Recitations 
per  Week 

Arithmetic  II 5 

Bookkeeping  II 10 

EngUshll 5 

Penmanship  II 5 

Shorthand  1 5 

Typewriting  II 5 


442 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


Second  Year 


First  Semester 

Recitations 
per  Week 

General  Science 5 

Economics 5 

English  III 5 

Shorthand  II 5 

Salesmanship 5 

Typewriting  III $ 


Second  Semester 

Recitations 
per  Week 

Applied  EngUsh 5 

English  IV 5 

Shorthand  III 5 

Shorthand  IV $ 

Typewriting  IV,  V .  .  . .  10 


THREE  YEAR  BOOKKEEPING  AND  SHORTHAND  COURSE 

The  first  year  will  be  the  same  as  in  the  two  year  shorthand 
course. 

Second  Year 


First  Semester 

Recitations 
per  Week 

Bookkeeping  III 10 

English  III 5 

General  Science 5 

Shorthand  II 5 

Second  Semester 

Recitations 
per  Week 

Bookkeeping  IV 10 

English  IV 5 

Mathematics  1 5 

Shorthand  III 5 

Typewriting  IV 5 

1  Year 

Second  Semester 

Recitations 
per  Week 

Typewriting  III 5 

Thin 
First  Semester 

Recitations 
per  Week 

Mathematics  II ^ 

Economics 5 

English  V 5 

Salesmanship 5 

Shorthand  IV 5 

Typewriting  V 5 


American  History 5 

Applied  EngHsh 5 

Commercial  Law 5 

Shorthand  V 5 

Typewriting  VI 5 


FOUR  YEAR  BUSINESS  COURSE 

The  first  two  years  will  be  the  same  as  in  the  three  year  course 
except  that  the  student  enrolling  for  a  regular  four  year  business 
course  will  not  begin  shorthand  until  the  second  year.  An  elective 
subject  may  be  taken  in  place  of  shorthand  the  second  semester. 

Third  Year 
First  Semester  Second  Semester 

Recitations  Recitations 

per  Week  per  Week 

5  American  History 5 

5  Commercial  Law 5 

5  EngHsh  VI S 

5  Shorthand  IV 5 

5  Typewriting  VI 5 


Mathematics  II. 

English  V 

Salesmanship . . . 
Shorthand  III .  . 
Typewriting  V. . 


THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE 


443 


First  Semester 

Rec 

per 

Chemistry  or  Physics  I 

Economics 

EngHsh  VII 

Shorthand  V 

Fourt 

Itations 
Week 

lO 

5 
5 
5 

5 

h  Year 

Second  Semester 

Recitations 
per  Week 

Applied  EngHsh ^ 

Chemistry  or  Physics 
Industrial  History. . . 
Shorthand  VI 

II 

lO 

5 

Typewriting  VII 

Typewriting  VIII .  . . 

. . 

5 

THE  HAAREN   HIGH   SCHOOL  OF  NEW    YORK 

One  of  the  most  recently  established  high  schools  of  com- 
merce is  the  Haaren  High  School  of  Manhattan,  New  York. 


TABLE  LIV 

Haaren  High  School  Four- Year  Commercial  Course — Accounting 


Term 

I 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

Required            

30 

25 

14 

14 

13 

23 

23 

13 

IS  units  required 

Elective 

Total              

18  units  to  graduate 

English 

5 
I 
2 
3 
4 
5 

5 

I 
2 
3 
4 

S 

I 

5 

5 

S 

5 

5 

Music               . .    . 

Physical  training 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

Typewriting                      . . 

Civics 

New  York  industries 

5* 

S* 

5- 

.... 

(One-half  unit  of  New 

Economic  geography 

York  industries  or 
economic  geogra- 
phy required) 

5 

Business  procedure 

5 
5 

'h 

Economics 

5 

s 

5 
5 

5 

s 

5 

5 

5* 

General  science  or  house- 
hold arts 

American  history 

S 

S 

Commercial  mathematics  |   -    - 

5* 
5* 

S* 
5* 

5* 

1 

5* 

I* 

(One    unit    of    com- 

Modern languages 

5* 

5* 

S* 

mercial  mathemat- 
ics required) 

Modem  European  history 

5* 

Physics 

5* 

Commercial  art       

S* 

? 

5* 

5* 

Statistics 

'• 

5* 

Materials  of  commerce   . . . 

5* 

S* 

'• 

5* 

S* 

5* 

■•■■|'    "I"" 

Note. — If  a  modem  language  is  offered  for  credit  toward  graduation,  not  less  than 
two  units  will  be  accepted. 
*  Elective. 


444 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


(Some  industrial   courses  are  also  offered.)     This  school  was 
opened  in  September,  1920.     ''The  work  at  the  Haaren  High 

TABLE  LV 
Haaren  High  School  Four- Year  Commercial  Course — Summary 


Account- 
ing 

Secre- 
tarial 

Salesman- 
ship 

Foreign 
Trade 

Required  Units 

English.. 

American  history 

4 

r 

4 

I 

4 
I 
i 

4 

I 

Civics 

i 

Physical  training 

Drawing  and  music 

I 
I 

0 
I 

I 
I 
0 
0 
0 
0 
.? 

0 

2 

0 
0 

I 
0 
0 

I 

0 

I  1 

0 
0 
0 

I 
I 
3 
0 
0 
I 

0 

a 

Economics  and  economic  geography 

Typewriting 

2 
1 

Stenography 

0 

Law  and  business  procedure 

0 

Commercial  mathematics 

I 

General  science  or  household  arts 

I 

Chemistry  or  physics 

0 

Merchandising  and  salesmanship 

0 

Office  practice  and  management 

0 

Secretarial  studies 

0 

Accounting 

I 

Foreign  exchange  and  foreign   transaction 
procedure 

I 

Total  reqiiired 

15 

I4i 

15 

i3h 

Elective  Units 

Modem  language 

3 

I 

I 
5  or  I 

0 

I 
'i  or  I 

3 

I 

0  , 

I 

0 

I 

0 

3i 
i  or  I 
^  or  I 

ioJi 

3 

I 

I 
J  or  I 

2 

I 
i  or  I 

3 

I 

I 

0    ' 

0 

I 

I 

i  or  I 

4 

Chemistry 

Physics 

Accoimting 

i  or  I 

Stenography 

Modem  European  history 

Economic  geography 

I 
3 

Commercial  art 

Household  arts 

Commercial  mathematics 

0 

Merchandising  and  salesmanship 

I 

Typewriting 

h 

Materials  of  commerce 

Mathematics  of  investment 

Statistics 

Commercial  law  and  business  procedure 

i  or  I 

18  units  required  for  graduation 

School  will  differ  from  that  in  other  high  schools  only  in  the 
fact  that  we  are  allowed  to  send  our  students  out  for  practical 
experience  in  the  business  world  on  the  alternate  week  plan."' 

» A  statement  by  R.  Wesley  Burnham,  principal  of  Haaren  High  School, 
April,  1922. 


THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE  445 

The  students  in  the  Haaren  High  School  are  either  elementary- 
school  graduates,  junior  high  school  graduates,  or  transfers 
from  different  grades  in  the  high  schools.  Commercial  work  is 
offered  in  secretarial  and  accounting  fields,  in  salesmanship, 
and  in  foreign  trade.  The  registration  in  February,  1922,  in 
these  courses  was  900. 

To  illustrate  the  courses  in  the  Haaren  High  School,  the 
outline  of  the  four-year  commercial  course  is  given  in  a  sum- 
marized form.  The  four-year  commercial  course  in  accounting 
is  also  given  as  a  detailed  illustration  of  one  of  these  courses. 

AN  EVALUATION  OF  THE  HIGH   SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE 

As  an  educational  institution  the  high  school  of  commerce 
has  been  something  of  a  disappointment  to  observers  and  per- 
haps to  its  own  administrators  as  well.  From  the  statements 
which  preceded  the  establishment  of  the  earlier  high  schools 
of  commerce,  there  is  every  reason  to  beheve  that  there  was 
hope  that  through  such  schools  there  might  come  into  being  a 
broader  and  deeper  type  of  business  education  than  had  grown 
up  in  the  secondary  schools  or  business  colleges.  This  view 
was  expressed  at  the  time  of  the  construction  of  the  High 
School  of  Commerce  of  the  City  of  New  York  by  G.  W. 
Wharton: 

Its  purpose  is  to  be,  not  a  business  college,  as  that  term  is  com- 
monly understood,  but  an  institution  which  will  fit  young  men  for 
managerial  and  other  higher  positions  requiring  expert  knowledge 
in  the  world  of  trade,  and  to  prepare  them  as  far  as  possible  for  the 
consular  service.  The  course  insists  strongly  upon  broad  general 
training,  with  special  emphasis  on  languages,  beginning  with  English. 
In  addition  to  this  it  will  offer  thorough  courses  in  business  methods, 
including  accountancy  as  well  as  routine  bookkeeping,  special  courses 
in  foreign  trade  and  exchange,  insurance,  brokerage,  and  other  opera- 
tions of  a  similar  character.^ 

Again,  if  one  examines  the  statements  which  precede  the 
printed  courses  of  study  in  modern  high  schools  of  commerce 

'  G.  W.  Wharton,  School  Review,  XI  (1903),  478. 


446  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

(see  p.  430),  he  finds  advance  notices  of  a  rather  strong  character. 
But  excepting  in  possibly  a  few  instances  the  courses  do  not 
live  up  to  these  advance  notices  or  to  such  optimistic  expressions 
as  that  quoted  above.  The  people  who  have  been  responsible 
for  organizing  high  schools  of  commerce  seem  ahnost  without 
exception  to  have  been  desirous  of  giving  the  students  as  much 
of  the  managerial  viewpoint  as  possible  and  as  much  training 
of  a  managerial  kind  as  they  were  able  to  supply.  That  they 
have  failed  for  the  most  part  has  probably  been  due  less  to 
their  wishes  or  efforts  than  to  the  lack  of  broadly  trained  teachers 
and  the  paucity  of  proper  text  material. 

There  are  those  who  argue,  however,  that  the  high  school 
of  commerce  is  handicapped  by  its  very  nature.  The  conten- 
tion is  made  that  we  have  there  a  group  of  students,  all  of  whose 
interests  are  centered  upon  a  single  objective  and  that  as  a 
result  it  is  less  easy  for  the  broad  sociaHzing  process  which  occurs 
in  the  general  high  school  to  take  place.  While  the  atmosphere 
of  such  a  school,  the  argument  runs,  cannot  be  called  profes- 
sional, it  is  commercial  and  narrow.  It  is  contended  that  the 
students  in  the  high-school  commercial  course,  in  spite  of  the 
limitations  of  their  subject-matter,  the  somewhat  restricted 
viewpoint  of  textbooks,  and  their  own  special  interests,  do, 
through  the  mere  general  association  and  contact  with  a  variety 
of  students  of  varied  interests,  receive  influences  which  are  of 
great  value  to  them  in  later  years. 

The  high  school  of  commerce,  however,  is  an  administrative 
unit  which  is  more  flexible  for  purposes  of  experiment  than  the 
commercial  course  in  the  secondary  school.  In  some  small 
degree  it  has  met  its  responsibility  as  an  educational  laboratory. 
But  it  has  not  seized  its  opportunity  or  developed  it  fully. 
Unhampered  by  classical  traditions,  admittedly  organized  for 
the  purpose  of  developing  business  education,  the  high  school 
of  commerce  has  the  chance  to  play  an  important  role  in  setting 
the  pace  for  all  secondary  business  education.  Touched  with  the 
newer  ideas  concerning  the  meaning  of  education  for  business, 
and  equipped  with  the  texts  which  are  appearing  as  a  result  of 
those  ideas,  the  high  school  of  commerce  is  likely  yet  to  become 


THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  OF  COMMERCE  447 

an  important  influence  in  the  improvement  of  business  education 
and  to  fulfil  the  hopes  of  those  who  saw  in  it  an  educational 
agency  of  usefulness  and  progress. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Is  it  sensible  to  speak  of  the  high  school  of  commerce  as  an 
extension  of  the  high-school  commercial  course  ? 

2.  Work  over  the  statements  of  purposes  and  aims  and  make  a 
list  of  the  objectives  stated  for  high  schools  of  commerce.  Indi- 
cate how  many  times  each  of  these  objectives  is  mentioned.  On 
the  basis  of  these  data,  what  seem  to  be  the  outstanding  aims  of 
high  schools  of  commerce  ? 

3.  From  the  data  gathered  as  suggested  above,  do  you  conclude 
that  the  objectives  of  high  schools  of  commerce  are  materially 
broader  than  the  objectives  of  high-school  commercial  courses  ? 

4.  How  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  there  is  such  a  diversity 
in  the  number  of  years  required  in  high  schools  of  conunerce 
for  such  courses  as  bookkeeping,  typewriting,  stenography,  and 
commercial  arithmetic  ? 

5.  Does  the  examination  of  the  data  concerning  social  business 
subjects  in  the  high  school  of  commerce  lead  to  the  belief  that 
the  high  school  of  commerce  has  progressed  far  beyond  the  high- 
school  commercial  course  in  the  development  and  presentation 
of  such  subjects  ? 

6.  It  is  sometimes  stated  that  the  high  school  of  commerce  is  the 
collegiate  school  of  business  of  the  people.  Does  it  appear  to 
you  that  this  statement  is  justified?  Is  it  any  more  true  than 
to  say  that  the  high-school  commercial  course  is  the  collegiate 
school  of  business  of  the  people  ? 

7.  "The  high  school  of  commerce  has  been  busy  merely  in  taking 
care  of  its  students.  It  has  done  Httle  in  experimenting  with 
how  best  to  take  care  of  them."  Do  you  feel  that  this  statement 
is  justified  ? 

8.  Everyone  would  agree  that,  where  the  number  of  cases  concerned 
is  few,  conclusions  drawn  from  the  cases  are  likely  to  be  inaccu- 
rate. Nevertheless  in  examining  the  courses  of  a  selected  group 
of  social  subjects,  we  find  great  variety  shown  among  few  schools 
concerned.  Should  you  expect  more  variety  or  less,  if  the  number 
of  schools  were  larger  ? 


44^  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

9.  Should  you  expect  to  find  a  more  carefully  worked-out  correla- 
tion of  subjects  in  high  schools  of  commerce  than  in  high-school 
commercial  courses;  do  you  feel  that  this  is  the  case  from  examin- 
ing the  data  presented  ? 

10.  Work  over  the  courses  ofifered  by  the  high  school  of  commerce 
of  Washington,  D.C.;  of  Detroit,  Michigan.  What  features,  if 
any,  do  you  find  which  are  strikingly  different  from  those  of  the 
high-school  conmiercial  courses  with  which  you  are  familiar  ? 

11.  Examine  the  course  of  Haaren  High  School  of  New  York;  in 
what  way,  if  any,  does  this  course  differ  from  the  high-school 
commercial  courses  with  which  you  are  famiUar  ? 

12.  "The  whole  atmosphere  of  the  high  school  of  commerce  is  opposed 
to  broadening  and  Uberalizing  commercial  studies."  What  is 
the  basis  for  this  contention  ?    Comment  upon  it. 

13.  "The  high  school  of  commerce  has  a  more  flexible  imit  than  the 
high  school  course."  Does  this  statement  seem  sound?  If  it 
is  true,  what  ought  the  high  school  of  commerce  undertake  to 
do  for  secondary  business  education  ? 

14.  Draw  up  a  statement  or  series  of  statements  which  express  your 
view  of  the  place  or  r61e  of  the  high  school  of  commerce  in  an 
organized  scheme  of  education  for  business. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS 
EDUCATION 

Our  interest  in  the  continuation  school  centers  in  what  it 
does  in  education  for  business.  To  secure  a  clear  notion  of 
what  it  does  in  that  more  limited  field,  however,  it  is  necessary 
to  see  something  of  the  continuation  school  in  general.  It  may- 
be well,  therefore,  to  begin  the  study  of  the  continuation  school 
by  getting  clearly  in  mind  the  type  of  institution  which  it  is, 
the  kind  of  work  which  it  undertakes  to  do,  and  the  chief 
characteristics  which  it  possesses.  One  definition  is  the 
following:* 

Under  the  terms  of  the  New  York  State  Education  Law  a  part- 
time  or  continuation  school  or  class  is  a  school  or  class  for  boys  and 
girls  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  eighteen  years  who  are  not 
high  school  graduates  and  who  have  discontinued  attendance  upon 
the  regular  full-time  schools.  Such  a  school  or  class  provides  instruc- 
tion for  not  less  than  four  and  not  more  than  eight  hours  a  week  for 
thirty-six  weeks  each  year  on  regular  school  days  between  eight 
o'clock  A.M.  and  five  o'clock  p.m.  in  subjects  which  are  designed  to 
increase  the  civic  and  vocational  intelligence  of  the  pupils. 

A  more  clear  notion  of  the  continuation  school,  however,  is 
to  be  found  in  the  following  catechism  used  by  the  Chicago 
Board  of  Education:* 

THE  CONTINUATION   SCHOOL  DEFINED 

Q.  What  is  a  continuation  school  ? 

A .  A  part-time  school  for  boys  and  girls  between  fourteen  and  sixteen 
years  of  age,  who  have  left  the  full-time  school  to  go  to  work. 

*  From  Btdletin  No.  dgy  (November  i,  19 19),  p.  6.  University  of 
State  of  New  York. 

'  From  pamphlet  on  Public  Continuation  Schools,  Board  of  Education, 
city  of  Chicago,  January,  1922. 

449 


450  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Q.  By  what  authority  are  continuation  schools  established  ? 

A.  By  a,  law  of  the  Illinois  Legislature  passed  in  191 9. 

Q.  What  is  the  most  important  provision  of  this  law  ? 

A .  That  all  school  districts,  in  which  there  are  at  least  twenty  minors 
eligible  to  continuation  school,  shall  establish  part-time  classes. 

Q.  Between  what  ages  do  working  boys  and  girls  now  go  to  continua- 
tion schools  ? 

A.  Between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen.' 

Q.  Must  all  working  boys  and  girls  attend  these  schools  ? 

A.  Yes.  Wherever  such  schools  are  open,  working  boys  and  girls 
between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen  must  attend. 

Q.  What  boys  and  girls  need  not  go  to  continuation  schools  ? 

A.  Those  who  go  to  full-time  schools,  and  those  who  are  graduates 
of  a  four-year  high-school  course. 

Q.  Must  working  boys  and  girls  who  are  graduates  of  eighth  grade 
go  to  continuation  school  ? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  Are  working  boys  and  girls  who  go  to  evening  schools  excused 
from  attendance  at  continuation  schools  ? 

A.  No. 

Q.  When  are  continuation  schools  in  session  ? 

A.  The  Chicago  continuation  schools  are  in  session  fifty  weeks  a 
year,  being  closed  the  two  weeks  immediately  preceding  Labor 
Day. 

Q.  What  vacation  is  given  to  continuation  school  pupils  ? 

A.  Pupils  are  given  their  school  vacation  at  the  time  they  have  their 
vacation  from  work. 

Q.  How  many  hours  a  week  are  pupils  required  to  attend  continua- 
tion school  ? 

A .  Eight  hours  a  week.  Employers  may  select  any  one  of  the  follow- 
ing schedules: 

Morning  Afternoon 

Mon.    8:00  to  12:00  and  Wed.    1:00  to  5:00 

Tues.    8:00  to  12:00  and  Thurs.  1:00  to  5:00 

Wed.    8:00  to  12:00  and  Fri.       1:00  to  5:00 

Thurs.  8:00  to  12:00  and  Mon.    1:00  to  5:00 

Fri.       8:00  to  12:00  and  Tues.    1:00  to  5:00 

» During  the  spring  of  192 1  the  Illinois  Legislature  raised  the  age  limit 
to  seventeen,  effective  1923,  and  to  eighteen,  effective  1925. 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS  EDUCATION     451 

Q.  If  boys  or  girls  lose  or  quit  their  jobs,  must  they  go  to  school  ? 
A .  Yes.    They  must  go  either  to  full-time  school  or  to  continuation 

school. 
Q.  What  is  required  of  continuation-school  pupils  who  stay  out  of 

school  ? 
A.  They  must  make  up  all  lost  time,  except  time  lost  on  account  of 

illness. 
Q.  What  will  happen  if  the  boys  and  girls  do  not  attend  regularly  ? 
A.  Their  employment  certificates  will  be  taken  away. 

PURPOSE 

Q.  What  is  the  purpose  of  the  continuation  schools  ? 

A .  To  give  working  boys  and  girls,  as  nearly  as  possible,  the  oppor- 
tunities enjoyed  by  their  more  fortunate  brothers  who  remain  in 
the  full-time  school. 

Q.  How  is  this  attempted  ? 

A.  By  providing  day  instruction  and  training  that  will  promote  their 
physical  health,  their  general  intelligence  and  their  interest  in 
the  life  of  the  community. 

Q.  Why  is  day  instruction  only  provided  ? 

A .  Children  cannot  work  all  day  and  attend  school  at  night  without 
hazarding  their  physical  health  and  their  moral  safety.  They 
need  their  evenings  for  recreation,  for  rest  and  for  general 
improvement. 

Q.  What  is  the  nature  of  the  instruction  given  ? 

A.  We  attempt  to  teach  boys  and  girls  how  to  use  their  working 
hours  as  well  as  their  leisure  time,  laying  special  emphasis  on 
outdoor  exercise,  wholesome  recreation,  hygienic,  civic  and  voca- 
tional instruction. 

Q.  How  is  vocational  instruction  provided  ? 

A.  By  improving  the  general  intelligence  of  these  young  people,  by 
giving  them  training  in  such  vocational  work  as  they  need  in 
their  jobs,  and  by  offering  them  opportunities  to  learn  something 
of  the  theory  and  practice  of  some  of  the  commoner  trades  and 
occupations. 

Q.  Do  the  continuation  schools  teach  trades  ? 

A.  No.  They  are  not  trade  schools.  They  aim  to  acquaint  the 
children  with  the  rudiments  of  several  trades  or  occupations, 
helping  the  children  to  decide  upon  the  kind  of  work  for  which 
they  are  best  suited. 


452  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Q.  Wherein  do  the  purpose  and  methods  of  the  continuation  school 
differ  from  those  of  the  full-time  school  ? 

A .  The  continuation  school  gives  constant  thought  to  both  the  pres- 
ent job  and  the  possible  future  job  of  the  boy  and  girl.  The 
present  job  is  the  starting  point  for  the  vocational  instruction. 
The  possible  future  job  serves  as  a  goal. 

Q.  Why  is  the  present  job  taken  into  consideration  ? 

A.  The  present  job  is  one  of  the  vital  interests  of  the  working  boy 
or  girl.  The  job  enables  him  to  earn  money.  The  training  of 
the  school  must,  therefore,  lay  some  stress  on  the  present  job, 
while  offering  opportunities  for  exchanging  it  for  a  better  one. 

Q.  Is  vocational  training  regarded  as  the  principal  problem  of  the 
continuation  school  ? 

A .  No.  The  greatest  value  of  the  continuation  school  is  the  oppor- 
tunity afforded  the  working  boy  or  girl  to  secure  that  general 
education  and  training  that  will  fit  them  to  fill  their  place  in  the 
community  in  which  they  live.  The  vocation  is  one  of  the 
elements  to  be 'taken  into  consideration 

THE  NEED  FOR  CONTINUED  EDUCATION 

Everyone  is  somewhat  familiar  with  the  fact  that  pupils,  boys 
especially,  drop  out  of  school  in  large  numbers  during  their  teens. 
Recently  in  New  York  the  Military  Training  Commission  had  an 
opportunity  to  study  the  school  histories  of  a  very  large  number 
of  boys.  Their  findings  are  so  impressive  concerning  school 
mortality  that  they  are  quoted  here:^ 

The  returns  from  150,000  of  these  boys  have  been  studied,  in 
all  sorts  of  groupings  such  as  Greater  New  York,  other  large  cities, 
small  cities,  large  villages,  small  villages,  rural  sections,  by  nationali- 
ties, boys  with  fathers,  boys  without  fathers,  with  mothers,  with- 
out mothers,  American  boys,  foreign  boys,  oldest  boys,  second 
oldest,  third  oldest,  fourth  oldest,  fifth  oldest  and  sixth  oldest  of 
both  American  and  foreign  birth,  and  it  has  been  found  that  regard- 
less of  birth,  family  conditions  and  environments  approximately 
73,000,  or  30  per  cent,  of  these  245,000  boys  leave  school  before 
fifteen,  172,000,  or  70  per  cent,  before  sixteen,  and  by  the  end  of  the 
sixteenth  year  less  than  10  per  cent,  or  20,000,  are  still  in  school. 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  Howard  G.  Burdge,  A  Study  of  Employed 
Boys  J  pp.  6-7.  State  of  New  York  Military  Training  Commission,  Bureau 
of  Vocational  Training,  192 1. 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS  EDUCATION     453 

About  61,000,  or  25  per  cent,  drop  out  on  or  before  completing 
the  seventh  grade,  132,000,  or  50  per  cent,  on  or  before  completmg 
the  eighth  grade,  and  220,000,  or  90  per  cent,  before  completing  the 
first  year  of  the  high  school.  Investigations  made  by  the  Inter- 
Church  World  Movement  show  that  boys  desert  the  Sunday  schools 
at  these  same  ages  and  the  leaders  in  the  Boy  Scouts  of  America 
report  that  most  boys  drop  out  of  the  Scout  troops  before  reaching 
sixteen. 

This  study  shows  that  these  boys  are  thoroughly  averse  to  further 
schooling  and  that  compulsory  part-time  continuation-school  and 
night-school  work  will  be  practically  valueless  unless  we  can  awaken 
in  these  boys  an  interest  in  further  education.  They  must  be  con- 
vinced that  by  completing  certain  definite  and  practical  short  courses 
they  can  increase  their  earning  capacity  and  secure  promotion.  To 
accomplish  this  is  the  task  of  boy  welfare  organizations  as  well  as 
of  the  schools.  The  major  part  of  the  future  training  and  education 
of  these  boys  will  be  secured  through  business  and  social  contacts, 
but  this  must  be  supplemented  by  carefully  selected  and  well  planned 
short  continuation-school  courses  which  are  attractive  to  boys  because 
of  their  practical  value. 

Clearly  it  is  not  the  belief  of  this  commission  that  the 
continuation  school  is  a  tool  ready  made  to  take  care  of  this 
appalling  school  mortality.  It  is  rather  to  be  thought  of  as 
one  agency  which  by  proper  development  may  function  use- 
fully. The  need  for  contuiued  education  of  some  sort  suggested 
in  this  quotation  should,  however,  be  kept  in  mind  in  consider- 
ing the  evening  school  as  well  as  here. 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CONTINUATION   SCHOOLS 

The  continuation  school  as  a  definite,  clearly  defined  institu- 
tion seems  to  have  had  its  beginning  m  Germany.  It  appeared 
not  as  a  vocational  school,  but  as  a  school  giving  supplementary 
education  of  a  general,  religious,  or  moral  character.  Although 
beginning  somewhat  earlier,  continuation  schools  became 
important  after  1800,  when  certain  of  the  German  states  began 
to  give  them  financial  support  and  to  make  them  to  a  degree 
compulsory.  In  these  early  schools  the  time  for  continuation 
was  usually  evenings  and  Sundays  and  the  instruction  given 
was  limited. 


454  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

The  introduction  of  the  factory  system  into  Germany  was 
accompanied  by  an  increase  in  the  number  of  continuation 
schools  and  the  growth  of  an  additional  amount  of  vocational 
work.  Later  when  some  degree  of  suffrage  was  introduced  in 
the  German  Empire,  the  continuation  schools  were  looked  to 
for  more  training  in  civic  and  economic  matters.  In  the  time 
during  which  these  changes  were  taking  place  compulsory 
attendance  became  more  common.  Equipment  and  buildings 
were  improved,  and  the  hours  of  instruction  were  increased 
and  were  placed  on  week  days  and  in  daytime  more  commonly 
than  before.^ 

The  development  of  continuation  schools  in  the  United 
States  is  a  comparatively  recent  movement.  In  1910  Ohio 
passed  the  first  of  the  state  laws  definitely  concerned  with  con- 
tinuation schools,  the  enactment  of  which  is  often  referred  to 
as  the  beginning  of  continuation  schools  in  the  United  States. 
About  the  same  time  the  founder  of  the  Munich  continuation- 
school  system,  Dr.  George  Kirchensteiner,  toured  the  country 
in  the  interests  of  the  continuation-school  movement.  Dr. 
Kirchensteiner's  influence  was  increased  by  the  prestige  then 
popularly  attached  to  Germany's  "efficiency"  methods.* 

As  a  result  of  Dr.  Kirchensteiner's  visit,  the  leaders  of  the  move- 
ment for  industrial  education  in  this  country  came  to  understand 
the  real  nature  of  the  continuation  school  and  many  of  them  became 
enthusiastic  advocates  of  it.  From  this  time  on,  the  continuation 
school  movement  gained  ground  with  every  year.  Prior  to  the 
passage  of  the  Smith-Hughes  Act  in  191 7,  seven  states  (Ohio, 
Wisconsin,3  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Massachusetts,  Indiana  and 

^  For  a  further  discussion  of  the  continuation  school  in  Germany  see 
Edwin  G.  Cooley,  "The  Part  Time  School — Its  Genesis  and  Permanent 
Vhice"  School  and  Home  Education,  Vol. XXXV  (October,  i9i5),No.  2,  p.  41. 

'This  statement  is  adapted  by  permission  from  Paul  H.  Douglas, 
American  Apprenticeship  and  Industrial  Education,  pp.  252-55,  261-62. 
''Columbia  University  Studies."    Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  192 1. 

3  In  192 1,  the  Wisconsin  Legislature  made  an  extension  of  the  con- 
tinuation-school requirements,  making  the  law  perhaps  the  most  advanced 
of  any  in  the  United  States.  The  law  requires  that  "whenever  any  day 
vocational  school  shall  be  established  in  any  town,  village  or  city  in  this 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS  EDUCATION     455 

Pennsylvania)  had  made  some  form  of  legislative  provision  for  con- 
tinuation schools  and  various  systems  were  being  put  into  effect. 
State  legislation  prior  to  the  Smith-Hughes  Act  was  based  upon  con- 
flicting attitudes  on  the  following  two  questions:  (i)  Whether  or 
not  the  state  should  require  attendance  at  the  continuation  schools. 
Wisconsin  and  Pennsylvania  were  the  only  states  where  the  legislature 
made  attendance  compulsory  for  all.  Massachusetts,  New  York, 
Ohio  and  Indiana  had  permissive  mandatory  laws  by  which  the 
legislature  empowered  the  local  boards  of  education  to  require  attend- 
ance. Experience  was  clearly  showing,  however,  that  the  latter 
t5T)e  of  law  was  very  ineffective  in  meeting  the  situation  because  of 
the  reluctance  of  the  local  boards  to  impose  any  additional  tax  burden. 
Wisconsin  and  Pennsylvania,  on  the  other  hand,  were  demonstrating 
that  state-wide  compulsory  continuation  schools  backed  up  by  a 
system  of  state  aid  were  the  only  effective  means  of  educating  the 
juvenile  worker.  (2)  Whether  or  not  the  curriculum  of  the  continua- 
tion schools  should  be  narrowly  vocational.  The  Indiana  law  per- 
mitted education  only  for  the  job  at  which  the  juvenile  worker  was 
employed  and  did  not  allow  the  trade  preparation  training  or  social 
subjects  in  the  curriculum.  Pennsylvania  and  Massachusetts,  on 
the  other  hand,  permitted  a  more  diversified  form  of  education  and 
included  civic  and  social  subjects  as  well  as  the  more  strictly 
vocational. 


state  for  minors,  working  under  permit  as  now  provided  by  law,  every  such 
child  residing  or  employed  within  any  town,  village  or  city  in  which  any 
such  school  is  estabhshed,  who  has  not  completed  four  years  of  work  above 
the  eight  elementary  grades,  and  who  is  not  in  attendance  at  some  other 
pubUc,  private  or  parochial  school  at  least  half  time  shall  attend  such  school 
not  less  than  half  time  in  the  daytime  imtil  the  end  of  the  school  term 
quarter,  semester  or  other  division  of  the  school  year  in  which  he  is  sixteen 
years  of  age,  and  after  that  eight  hours  a  week  imtil  the  end  of  the  term, 
quarter,  semester  or  other  division  of  the  school  year  in  which  he  is  eighteen 
years  of  age,  for  at  least  eight  months  in  each  year,  and  for  such  additional 
months  or  parts  thereof  as  the  other  public  schools  in  such  city,  town  or 
village  are  in  session  in  excess  of  eight  diuing  the  regular  school  year,  or  the 
equivalent  as  may  be  determined  by  the  local  board  of  industrial  education, 
and  every  employer  shall  allow  all  minor  employees  a  reduction  in  hours  of 
work  of  not  less  than  the  number  of  hours  the  minor  is  by  law  required  to 
attend  school.  Whenever  the  working  time  and  the  class  time  coincide, 
such  reduction  in  hours  of  work  shall  be.  allowed  at  the  time  when  the 
classes  which  the  minor  is  by  law  required  to  attend  are  held." — Author. 


456  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

THE   SMITH-HUGHES   LAW 

The  second  stage  of  continuation-school  development  in 
the  United  States  occurred  with  the  passage  of  the  Smith- 
Hughes  Act,  approved  Feburary  23,  191 7.  It  was:  "an  act  to 
provide  for  the  promotion  of  vocational  education;  to  provide 
for  co-operation  with  the  States  in  the  promotion  of  such  educa- 
tion in  agriculture  and  the  trades  and  industries;  to  provide 
for  co-operation  with  the  States  in  the  preparation  of  teachers 
of  vocational  subjects;  and  to  appropriate  money  and  regulate 
its  expenditure."  Certain  paragraphs  of  the  law  are  worth 
quoting:^ 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  there  is  hereby 
annually  appropriated,  out  of  any  money  in  the  Treasury  not  other- 
wise appropriated,  the  sums  provided  in  sections  two,  three,  and  four 
of  this  Act,  to  be  paid  to  the  respective  States  for  the  purpose  of 
co-operating  with  the  States  in  paying  the  salaries  of  teachers, 
supervisors,  and  directors  of  agricultural  subjects,  and  teachers  of 
trade,  home  economics,  and  industrial  subjects,  and  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  teachers  of  agricultural,  trade,  industrial,  and  home  economics 
subjects. 

That  a  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education  is  hereby  created, 
to  consist  of  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  the  Secretary  of  Commerce, 
the  Secretary  of  Labor,  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education, 
and  three  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  be  appointed  by  the  Presi- 
dent, by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate.  One  of 
said  three  citizens  shall  be  a  representative  of  the  manufacturing  and 
commercial  interests,  one  a  representative  of  the  agricultural  inter- 
ests and  one  a  representative  of  labor. 

The  Smith-Hughes  Act  provided  for  co-operation  between 
the  federal  government  and  the  several  states  only  through  the 
acceptance  of  the  federal  act  by  the  state  legislature.  It 
happened  that  the  federal  law  was  passed  at  a  time  when  most 
of  the  state  legislatures  were  in  session.     No  less  than  thirty- 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education, 
Bulletin  No.  j,  pp.  49,  51,  52.  .Washington:  Government  Printing  Office, 
191 7. 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS  EDUCATION     457 

nine  of  the  states  passed  formal  acts  of  acceptance  in  191 7,  and 
either  through  such  acceptance  or  through  the  governor's  action 
every  state  in  the  union  was  quaUfied  to  participate  in  the  distri- 
bution of  federal  money  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1918.  By 
the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  1918-19,  every  state  had  through  a 
formal  act  of  the  legislature  accepted  the  provisions  of  the  Smith- 
Hughes  Law.  Three  points  had  to  be  specifically  covered  by  the 
state  legislation  under  the  provisions  of  the  federal  law.  These 
are  (i)  the  acceptance  of  the  provisions  of  the  federal  act,  (2) 
the  creation  or  designation  of  a  state  board  to  administer  the 
act,  and  (3)  the  appointment  of  the  state  treasurer  as  custodian 
of  federal  funds.^ 

In  a  few  of  the  states  the  laws  state  specifically  the  condi- 
tions under  which  the  vocational  work  is  to  be  administered. 
In  more,  the  actual  administrative  power  is  left  to  the  state 
board  for  vocational  education.  In  every  state  either  the  state 
board  for  vocational  education  or  the  state  board  of  education 
is  charged  with  the  duty  of  formulating  rules  and  regulations 
concerning  the  establishment  of  •  the  compulsory  part-time 
school. 

The  more  essential  provisions  of  the  laws  in  the  nineteen 
states  which  have  enacted  what  may  be  called  part-time 
compulsory-education  laws  is  shown  in  the  table  on  page  458.* 

Practically  every  state  requires  that  the  schools  or  classes  shall 
be  held  during  the  usual  working  hours  of  the  minor;  usually  the 
laws  state  specifically  that  such  classes  shall  be  held  between  the 
hours  of  eight  a.m.  and  five  or  six  p.m.  Some  of  the  state  directors 
favor  the  elimination  of  Saturday  part-time  classes,  others  believe 
that  Saturday  can  be  used  advantageously  for  part-time  work, 
especially  in  the  larger  cities. 

It  is  certain  that  the  attendance  should  be  required  during  the 
working  hours  of  the  pupils.  For  example,  when  the  state  law  allows 
a  minor  to  work  for  forty-eight  hours  and  the  required  part-time 
school  attendance  is  eight  hours,  the  number  of  hours  in  which  a 

*  Third  Annual  Report  of  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education,  I, 
13-21. 

*This  table  is  taken  from  Bulletin  55,  pp.  8-9,  26-27.  "Trade  and 
Industrial  Series,"  No.  14,  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education. 


458 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


minor  may  be  legally  employed  should  be  automatically  reduced 
to  forty,  the  eight  hours  of  attendance  upon  a  part-time  school 
being  considered  as  a  part  of  the  time  of  the  total  forty-eight  hours. 
In  this  connection,  it  may  be  well  to  state  that  there  is  a  prac- 
tical unanimity  of  opinion  that  evening-school  attendance  should 
not  be  allowed  as  a  substitute  for  attendance  upon  a  day  part-time 

TABLE  LVI 

Provisions  of  Part-Time  Compulsory  Education  Laws 


State 

Law  in 
Effect 

Minimum 
Number 
of  Minors 
Required 
to  Estab- 
Ush 
Classes 

Age  of 
Required 
Attend- 
ance 

Hours  of 
Required 
Attend- 
ance per 
Week 

Length  of  School  Year 

1919 
1920 
1921 
1919 
1920 
1920 
1919 
1919 
1919 
1919 
1920 
1919 
1920 
1919 
1919 
191S 
1919 
1920 
1911 

20 

200t 

sot 

25 

IS 
IS 
IS 
20 

Mi 

20 

isll 

20 

14-16 
14-18 
14-18 
14-16 
14-16 
14-18 
14-16 
14-18 
14-16 
14-18 
14-16 
14-16 
14-18 
16-18 
14-18 
14-16 
14-18 
14-18 
14-17 

150  hours 

California 

Illinois   . 

4 
8 
8 
4 
8 
4 

Iowa     

Massachusetts... . 

Michigan 

Missouri 

Same  as  public  schools 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

144  hours 

Same  as  public  schools 

36  weeks 

150  hours 

Same  as  public  schools 

144  hours 

New  Jersey 

New  Mexico 

New  York 

Oklahoma 

6 

4-i 

Oregon 

i} 

Pennsylvania 

Utah 

Same  as  public  schools 
144  hours 

Same  as  public  schools 
8  months 

Washington 

Wisconsin 

t 

*  High-school  districts  having  50  or  more  pupils  must  establish  part-time  classes. 
t  Referendum  law  adopted  by  all  towns  affected  except  one. 

X  Establishment  of  schools  is  compulsory  only  in  school  districts  having  a  population 
of  s.ooo  or  more. 

§  Establishment  required  only  in  cities  of  over  5,000  population. 

II  Attendance  upon  evening  school  may  be  substituted. 

\  Districts  may  organize  schools  upon  written  request  of  twenty-five  residents. 


school.    Only  one  state  of  the  Union  requires  attendance  of  fourteen 
to  sixteen-year  minors  upon  evening  schools. 

Several  states,  it  may  be  noted,  including  Indiana,  Kentucky, 
Ohio,  Michigan,  New  York,  and  Massachusetts,  have  enacted 
permissive  mandatory  laws  authorizing  local  districts  to  establish 
such  schools,  but  relatively  few  communities  in  these  states,  Boston 
being  notably  one  of  these  few,  have  taken  advantage  of  the  state 
laws.    It  may  fairly  be  said,  therefore,  that  legislation  which  has 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS  EDUCATION     459 

simply  granted  authority  to  local  districts  to  establish  part-time 
schools  and  to  require  attendance  on  them  has  not  been  very  generally 
effective  as  a  means  of  stimulating  the  establishment  of  such  schools. 

The  importance  of  the  Smith-Hughes  Act  to  continuation 
schools  grew  out  of  the  fact  that  the  law  pcirticularly  recognized 
the  value  of  such  schools.     Section  11  of  the  law  required: 

That  at  least  one-third  of  the  sum  appropriated  to  any  State  for 
the  salaries  of  teachers  of  trade,  home  economics,  and  industrial 
subjects  shall,  if  expended,  be  applied  to  part-time  schools  or  classes 
for  workers  over  fourteen  years  of  age  who  have  entered  upon  employ- 
ment, and  such  subjects  in  a  part-time  school  or  class  may  mean 
any  subject  given  to  enlarge  the  civic  or  vocational  intelligence  of 
such  workers  over  fourteen  years  of  age  who  have  entered  upon 
employment,  and  such  subjects  in  a  part-time  school  or  class  may 
mean  any  subject  given  to  enlarge  the  civic  or  vocational  intelligence 
of  such  workers  over  fourteen  and  less  than  eighteen  years  of  age; 
that  such  part-time  schools  or  classes  shall  provide  for  not  less  than 
144  hours  of  classroom  instruction  per  year. 

COMMERCIAL  WORK  UNDER  THE   SMITH-HUGHES   LAW 

The  recommendations  of  the  Commission  on  National  Aid 
to  Vocational  Education,  which  led  to  the  enactment  of  the 
Smith-Hughes  Act,  did  not  include  a  proposal  for  a  subsidy  for 
commercial  education,  and  accordingly  no  such  direct  subsidy 
was  given.  The  Commission  did  suggest,  however,  that  the 
national  government  should  give  "substantial  encouragement 
to  commercial  education."  This  suggestion  was  followed,  and 
in  Section  6  of  the  act  the  following  is  to  be  found: 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Educa- 
tion to  make,  or  cause  to  have  made,  studies,  investigations,  and 
reports,  with  particular  reference  to  their  use  in  aiding  the  States  in 
the  establishment  of  vocational  schools  and  classes  and  giving 
instruction  in  ...  .  commerce  and  commercial  pursuits.  Such 
studies,  investigations,  and  reports  shall  include  ....  commerce 
and  commercial  pursuits  and  requirements  upon  commercial 
workers 

When  the  Board  deems  it  advisable  such  studies,  investigations, 
and  reports  concerning  commerce  and  commercial  pursuits,  for  the 


46o  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

purpose  of  commercial  education,  may  be  made  in  co-operation  with 
or  through  the  Department  of  Commerce. 

The  Federal  Board  created  a  Commercial  Education  Service 
at  the  same  time  that  the  other  services  of  the  Board  were 
organized.  It  was  the  duty  of  this  service  to  make  the  studies, 
investigations,  and  reports  which  were  deemed  necessary: 

Within  a  year  after  the  Board  was  organized  it  ruled  that  Federal 
money  could  be  used  in  part-time  schools  and  classes  for  the  salaries 
of  instructors  in  trade,  home  economics,  industrial,  commercial  and 
general  educational  subjects.  This  resolution  was  to  carry  into  effect 
the  provision  of  Sec.  ii  of  the  Act  which  specified  that  the  subjects 
"in  the  part-time  schools  may  mean  any  subject  given  to  enlarge 
the  civic  and  vocational  intelligence, "  and  obviously  the  commercial 
work  could  be  regarded  as  enlarging  either  the  civic  or  vocational 
intelligence. 

The  Board  further  ruled  that  part-time  classes  must  be  classes 
which  divide  the  working  day  or  school  time  between  instruction  and 
practical  work  in  shop,  factory,  home,  office,  etc.  As  a  result  of 
these  rulings  the  work  of  the  Commercial  Education  Service  has  two 
phases:  first,  that  of  making  studies,  investigations  and  reports  for 
the  purpose  of  improving  the  quality  of  commercial  education  in 
every  type  of  public  school  below  coUege  grade;  second,  that  of 
administering  and  supervising  the  commercial  work  in  the  part-time 
schools. 

The  Board  in  defining  the  part-time  school  ruled  that  the  defini- 
tion means  here  not  to  separate  the  working  day  and  school  time 
into  two  equal  parts  but  to  apportion  or  distribute  the  total  working 
day  so  that  a  portion  of  it  is  given  to  school  instruction,  or  to  appor- 
tion or  distribute  the  total  school  time  so  that  a  portion  of  it  is  given 
to  employment  in  shop,  factory,  home,  or  office,  etc.  Under  this 
ruling  what  are  known  as  co-operative  high  school  classes  in  both 
retail  selling  and  office  practice  were  subsidized  from  Federal  funds; 
that  is  part  of  the  teacher's  pay  may  be  paid  from  Federal  funds. 

The  state  boards  foi  vocational  education  submit  to  the  Federal 
Board  each  year  a  state  plan  which  outlines  the  work  in  vocational 
education  which  the  state  board  proposes  to  carry  on  during  the 
ensuing  fiscal  year.  The  decision  as  to  whether  the  high  school 
co-operative  classes  in  commercial  subjects  will  be  subsidized  or  not, 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS  EDUCATION     461 

therefore,  rests  entirely  with  the  state  board.  The  Federal  Board 
has  ruled  that  the  states  may  subsidize  these  classes  but  this  does  not 
mean  that  the  states  have  to,  and  therefore  the  question  of  whether 
or  not  the  high  school  co-operative  classes  in  office  work  and  retail 
selling  in  a  particular  state  wiU  be  subsidized,  rests  entirely  with  the 
state  board.  It  has  not  been  the  policy  of  the  Commercial  Education 
Service  to  press  this  matter  in  any  state  as  it  has  not  been  considered 
advisable  to  have  the  state  boards  fed  that  they  are  under  compulsion 
in  any  phase  of  vocational  education  which  is  optional  under  the 
rulings  of  the  Board.  In  all  the  states  which  have  compulsory  part- 
time  school  laws,  classes  have  been  provided  to  meet  the  needs  of 
children  employed  in  stores  and  offices.^ 

SOME  EXAMPLES  OF  CONTINUATION  SCHOOLS 

The  continuation  school  does  not  exist  to  give  training  in 
commercial  work  alone.  Examples  therefore  must  necessarily 
include  a  description  of  the  organization  for  other  work  as  well 
as  for  instruction  in  commercial  subjects.  Such  descriptions 
may  be  useful  to  those  who  are  interested  in  the  organization  or 
direction  of  continuation  schools;  they  are  in  any  case  more 
faithful  portrayals  of  the  facts  than  if  the  data  concerning 
business  teaching  in  continuation  schools  were  isolated.  The 
business  training  must  usually  be  seen  more  or  less  as  a  setting 
of  other  studies.  It  may  be  well  to  begin  with  the  descrip- 
tion of  a  continuation  school  of  general  character.  One  such 
example  can  be  found  in  Detroit. 

In  Detroit  there  has  been  a  considerable  re-working  of 
educational  work  during  the  past  year  or  two.  One  feature 
of  the  plan  in  this  city  is  to  keep  the  work  for  boys  and  girls 
entirely  separate  and  to  throw  the  students  into  groups  around 
which  separate  courses  can  be  built.  Below  is  a  statement  of 
courses  of  study  offered  in  the  boys'  continuation  department  of 
the  Cass  Technical  High  School  of  Detroit:^ 

^  From  materials  distributed  by  the  Commercial  Service  of  the  Federal 
Board  for  Vocational  Education,  March,  1922, 

'  From  statement  of  courses  of  study  submitted  by  Assistant  Principal 
E.  G.  Allen. 


462  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Auto  Mechanics  I: 

Chassis — Study  and  assembly  of  front  and  rear  axles  and  trans- 
missions.   Three  45  minute  periods. 

Ignition — Study  of  fundamental  principles  of  electricity,  the  study 
and  assembly  of  generators  and  starting  motors,  distributors  and 
batteries.    Three  45  minute  periods. 
Auto  Mechanics  II: 

Study  of  engines — different  types  of  gas  engines,  carburetors,  and 
vacuum  forced  speed  gasoline  systems,  practical  work  in  wiring 
up  the  electrical  equipment. 

Garage  work — ^Actual  repairing  of  all  makes  of  cars. 
Electrical  Construction  I: 

Splicing,  soldering,  insulation,  and  bell  wiring,  work  on  different 
types  of  switches,  open  and  receptacle  work,  and  garage  wiring. 
Electrical  Construction  II: 

Use  of  wood  molding,  rosette  and  drop  cord  work,  snap  switches 
for  different  circuits,  metal  molding,  baseboard  plugs,  wiring  of 
ordinary  houses,  safety  switches,  knife  switches,  and  radio  work. 
Wood  Shop: 

Pattern  making — ^Joinery,  wood  turning,  coping  down,  split 
pattern,  green  sand  core,  and  dry  sand  core,  dry  sand  core 
box,  vertical  and  horizontal  types,  balanced  core,  stop-off  core, 
loose  piece  pattern,  three-part  pattern,  built-up  or  segment 
pattern,  and  a  master  pattern. 

Cabinet  making — ^Typical  types  of  joinery  work;    boys  repair 
furniture  and  make  new  furniture. 
Commercial: 

Typewriting,  office  practice,  business  English,  business  arithmetic, 
economics. 
Reservoir: 

Into  this  group  are  placed  all  incoming  students  who  have  no 
definite  aim  or  type  of  work  they  wish  to  follow,  and  boys  who 
are  subnormal  and  whom  we  are  imable  to  place  in  the  more 
advanced  shop  courses. 
Mechanical  Drawing: 

The  work  in  this  course  is  divided  into  two  sections:  Students, 
upon  entering,  are  placed  in  a  sketching  class  and  taught  to 
letter  and  make  sketches.  As  soon  as  one  shows  himseff  proficient 
in  this  class,  he  is  put  into  a  course  which  is  the  same  as  the 
Mechanical  Drawing  course  in  Cass  High  School. 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS  EDUCATION     463 

Machine  Shop: 
Grinding  and  hardening  of  tools,  chucking,   centering — regular 
and   irregular — facing,  straight  turning,  shouldering,  knurling, 
chuck  wood,  taper  turning,  taper  boring,  hand  reaming,  bevelling, 
and  threading. 

Freehand  Sketching: 
This  is  a  special  course  offered  on  Saturday  afternoons  for  boys 
who,  we  find,  are  talented  in  Freehand  Sketching,  and  are 
desirous  of  doing  some  art  work.  As  this  is  a  very  small  group, 
we  have  to  combine  it  with  a  small  Mechanical  Drawing  class. 
The  work  done  here  is  at  the  present  time  practically  an 
experiment. 

Printing: 
The  printing  course  consists  of  composition  or  type  setting  by 
hand,  of  press  work  and  book  binding.  The  boys  here  have 
practical  experience  in  taking  a  job  and  carrying  it  through  to 
completion.  This  work  at  the  present  time  is  offered  only  on 
Saturday,  due  to  the  crowded  condition  in  this  Department 
throughout  the  week. 

Academic: 
The  academic  subjects  are  carried  on  in  connection  with  the  differ- 
ent shop  courses  and  the  boys  move  throughout  the  eleven 
45  minute  periods  a  day  as  a  group,  and  the  work  is  so  arranged 
as  to  bring  as  much  bearing  upon  the  shop  work  they  are  taking 
up  as  possible.  The  subjects  offered  are  Mathematics,  English, 
History,  and  Economics. 

CONTINUATION  SCHOOLS  FOR  GIRLS  IN  DETROIT 

In  planning  vocational  education  of  all  types  too  little  con- 
sideration has  been  given  to  special  needs  of  girls.  The  immedi- 
ate and  temporary  occupations  which  she  shares  in  common 
with  boys  have  been  considered,  but  the  more  permanent 
vocation  in  which  most  women  are  employed  has  not  been 
planned  for  with  care.  Some  real  thought  appears  to  be  given 
to  this  question  in  Detroit.^ 

^  The  following  statement  is  adapted  by  permission  from  George  F. 
Buxton,  Part-Time  Education,  pp.  33-37.  "Monographs  on  Vocational 
Education,"  1921  Series,  No.  2.  Published  by  the  Vocational  Association 
of  the  Middle  West. 


464  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

The  part-time  continuation  school  for  girls  in  Detroit  has  been, 
from  its  beginning,  distinct  from  the  same  type  of  school  for  boys. 
The  problems  which  it  has  presented  have  not  been  obscured  or 
overshadowed  by  the  easily  solved  problems  of  industrial  education 
which  continuation  work  for  boys  presents,  as  may  be  the  case  when 
the  two  types  of  work  come  under  the  same  administration.  Educa- 
tion of  the  young  wage-earning  girl  is  a  twofold  problem.  Her 
initial  wage-earning  career  is  short  and  within  a  period  of  from  three 
to  ten  years  she  enters  upon  her  career  of  home-making.  She  must, 
therefore,  be  equipped  for  two  vocations  neither  of  which  may  be 
regarded  as  sufficiently  permanent  to  warrant  training  for  one  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  other 

It  is  the  girl  of  the  adolescent  age  who  comes  to  the  part-time 
school  when  she  is  entering  upon  a  new  stage  of  her  life.  A  new  sense 
of  her  power  is  awakening,  exhibited  often  by  an  attempt  to  throw 
off  traditional  control  of  home  and  school.  She  looks  out  upon  a 
new  world — spiritual,  moral  and  mental,  no  less  than  practical  and 
material.  Her  mind  is  most  sensitive  and  most  receptive  at  this 
age,  and  new  capacities  Ue  dormant  but  just  ready  for  the  awakening 
touch.  She  has  left  school  to  take  her  place  in  the  world  of  produc- 
tion and  trade  because  of  conditions  within  the  school  which  have 
not  been  adjustable  to  her  individual  desires  or  needs;  or  she  is  help- 
ing to  bear  the  financial  support  of  a  large  family;  or  she  is  endeavor- 
ing to  meet  her  yearning  for  well-being  expressing  itself  outwardly  in 
a  more  elaborate  wardrobe.  Therefore,  it  becomes  the  purpose  of 
the  school  to  bring  the  girl  to  a  realization  of  herself,  to  interpret 
to  her  the  new  world  of  life  she  is  entering,  to  present  her  with  oppor- 
tunities for  self  knowledge,  self  appraisal,  self  expression,  and  self 
development. 

The  girl  problem  is  inseparably  bound  up  with  the  teacher 
problem.  The  right  kind  of  a  teacher  is  the  most  vital  consideration 
in  the  success  of  a  part-time  school  for  girls.  Her  paramount  in- 
terest must  be  in  the  individual.  This  must  never  be  forgotten  in  her 
desire  to  perpetuate  school  traditions,  or  to  teach  a  set  lesson.  She 
will  study  to  understand  the  part-time  school  movement.  She  must 
believe  in  the  school,  its  aims  and  its  opportunities  for  young  employed 
girls,  and  she  must  have  faith  in  girls. 

In  the  Detroit  school,  an  average  of  about  fifty  girls  each  day  form 
what  is  known  as  the  "Mixed  Group."  They  are  the  girls  of  lowest 
school  attainment.    The  majority  have  finished  the  sixth  grade, 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS  EDUCATION     465 

many  were  in  the  seventh  at  time  of  leaving  school,  and  a  few  have 
left  school  at  the  termination  of  the  compulsory  school  age  while  in 
grades  below  the  sixth.  The  latter  are  subnormals — a  class  with 
which  the  school  has  not  had  to  deal  before  this  year. 

The  mixed  group  is  divided  into  two  classes,  averaging  twenty- 
five  girls  each.  These  girls  seem  to  need,  especially,  civic  and  domestic 
intelligence,  knowledge  of  health  laws,  and  a  general  toning  up  of  per- 
sonal appearance  and  habits.  Fifty  per  cent  of  their  school  day  is 
occupied  with  home-making  subjects — cooking,  sewing,  elementary 
home  economics — and  the  remainder  in  English,  arithmetic,  spelling, 
civics,  gymnasium  and  hygienic  classes.  The  lessons  in  all  academic 
subjects  relate  to  the  girl's  life  in  her  occupation  and  home,  and 
every  effort  is  made  to  have  each  lesson  so  practical  that  the  girl  may 
carry  it  directly  into  living.  These  fifteen  and  sixteen  year  old  girls 
of  seventh  grade  and  below  are  very  much  retarded  and  belong  to 
that  large  group  of  the  youth  of  our  country  who  rarely  finish  elemen- 
tary school.  Individually  a  few  move  out  of  this  group  to  classes 
of  higher  grade  girls  from  time  to  time  during  the  school  year.  Those 
are  the  more  promising  ones  who  have  been  awakened  probably  by 
the  close  touch  of  a  sympathetic  and  intelligent  teacher.  In  the 
full-time  school  they  were  lost  in  the  crowd. 

This  arrangement  has  revealed  the  value  of  one  teacher  over  the 
many  for  this  type  of  girl.  They  are  her  sole  interest.  She  has 
visited  their  homes,  and  is  devoted  to  their  welfare.  They  are  most 
difficult  to  keep  in  school  regularly,  yet  the  attendance  of  this  group 
has  shown  a  marked  improvement. 

Above  this  mixed  group  still  less  attention  is  paid  to  school 
grade,  and  greater  effort  is  made  to  group  girls  according  to  occupa- 
tions. There  is  the  office  group,  the  store  group,  the  telephone  group, 
and  the  home  group.  A  girl  from  any  one  of  these  groups  may  be  tak- 
ing commercial  studies  as  her  desired  vocational  subject,  but  remains 
with  her  group  for  the  classes  that  relate  especially  to  her  own  job. 
The  ungraded  condition  of  these  classes  has  been  found  quite  satis- 
factory. An  eighth  grade  girl  will  often  do  as  well  as  a  ninth  when 
the  class  problems  are  vital  and  related  to  living.  She  will  at  least 
be  following  along  the  line  of  a  real  interest  and  gaining  all  she  is 
capable  of  in  the  subject  studied. 

The  problem  presented  by  girls  who  are  in  employments  that 
demand  no  special  skill  or  training,  and  offer  them  no  training  for 
any  permanent  occupation  has  not  been  fully  solved  in  the  Detroit 


466  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

part-time  school  for  girls.  A  vocational  information  class  has  been 
attempted  for  these  girls.  It  includes  girls  from  factories,  laundries, 
and  home  girls.  It  offers  an  opportunity  to  emphasize  the  ethical 
principle  of  making  good  in  any  job,  and  at  the  same  time  endeavors 
to  point  the  way  to  a  more  permanent  vocation  suited  to  individual 
capacities.  These  girls,  from  the  simple  automatic  occupations,  fit 
well  into  the  home-making  classes  where  manual  skill  is  also  required. 
To  ofifset  the  dulling  influence  of  automatic  work  for  five  days  a  week, 
there  is  the  nature  and  folk  dancing  and  recreational  games  in  the 
gymnasium,  the  chorus  work  in  the  assembly,  and  the  introduction 
to  the  world  of  good  books  in  the  English  classes.  Thus  the  young 
worker  who  stands  all  day  taking  marking  pins  out  of  clothes  in 
family  washes  at  the  laundry,  or  turning  men's  hose  right  side  out  in 
the  knitting  mill,  is  directed  into  some  wholesome  self  improving 
activities.  The  school  needs  especially  to  "tone  up  the  minds,  the 
bodies  and  the  feelings"  of  this  industrial  group.  But  instruction 
that  bears  directly  upon  the  work  the  girl  is  doing  is  quite  beyond 
the  ability  of  the  school  to  provide  because  too  many  varieties  of 
manual  work  are  represented.  Most  of  the  jobs  are  learned  in  a  day 
and  skill  and  speed  are  acquired  through  the  constant  practice. 
Advancement  comes  to  those  who  are  fitted  to  do  some  manipulative 
task  which  requires  a  little  more  judgment  or  responsibility,  or  a  little 
more  physical  strength,  or  willingness  to  perform  disagreeable  work. 

COMMERCIAL  CONTtNUATION  WORK  IN  TRENTON,  NEW  JERSEY 

•  In  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  a  good  deal  of  effort  has  been 
spent  to  work  out  a  sound  plan  of  instruction  in  commercial 
subjects  in  the  continuation  school.  The  present  system  is 
thus  described  :^ 

I.  The  compulsory  New  Jersey  continuation  school  law. — This 
law  became  effective  July  i.  1920.  Under  the  provisions  of  the 
law  a  continuation  school  must  be  established  and  maintained  in 
every  school  district  in  which  there  are  employed  twenty  or  more 
children  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen  to  whom  age  and 
schooling  certificates  have  been  granted  in  accordance  with  the  child 
labor  and  compulsory  attendance  laws.  Attendance  of  aU  these 
children  (physically  and  mentally  fit)  is  required  for  at  least  sbc 

» This  statement  was  prepared  m  May,  1922,  by  Paul  S.  Lomax,  di- 
rector of  business  education  in  Trenton. 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS  EDUCATION     467 

hours  a  week  for  thirty-six  weeks  a  year,  or,  if  temporarily  employed, 
for  twenty  hours  a  week  during  the  period  of  unemployment.  The 
time  of  attendance  is  on  regular  school  days  between  eight  o'clock 
in  the  morning  and  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

2.  Maintenance  and  support. — State  aid  is  given  continuation 
schools  in  the  several  districts  to  the  amount  of  $400  to  each  teacher 
employed  for  a  terra  of  thirty-six  weeks  or  more,  or  a  proportionate 
amomit  based  upon  the  ratio  that  the  actual  number  of  hours' 
service  bears  to  1080  hours.  In  addition,  federal  aid  is  granted  when 
the  requirements  of  the  Federal  Board  for  "Vocational  Education 
relative  to  class  organization,  equipment,  purpose  of  instruction  and 
qualifications  of  teachers  are  fulfilled. 

3.  Organization  of  the  Trenton  continuation  school. — 'There  are 
850  pupils  enrolled  in  the  school  in  which  ten  teachers  are  employed. 
Of  these  students  125  are  registered  in  commercial  subjects,  400  in 
home  economics  and  325  in  practical  arts.  In  all  three  lines  of  work 
one-half  of  the  day's  session  or  three  hours  is  given  to  the  vocational 
subjects  and  the  remaining  three  hours  to  work  in  related  subjects, 
as  English,  physical  training,  arithmetic,  hygiene  and  civics.  The 
work  in  home  economics  consists  of  cooking,  sewing  and  other  home 
arts;  in  practical  arts  of  wood-work,  sheet  metal  work  and  electricity; 
and  in  commercial  education  of  introductory  business,  penmanship 
and  typewriting. 

4.  Commercial  subjects. — The  key  subject  of  the  commercial 
work  is  Introductory'  Business.    The  nature  of  the  course  is: 

a)  To  study  the  organization  and  functions  of  local  business 
enterprises,  manufacturing,  wholesaling,  retailing,  financial,  com- 
mission, public  utilities,  etc.,  as  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of 
junior  workers  who  are  employed  in  such  businesses. 

h)  Within  these  organizations  to  study  types  of  work  which  are 
performed  by  junior  workers  such  as  those  who  are  enrolled  in  the 
continuation  school  classes.  With  reference  to  the  junior  occupa- 
tions a  study  is  made  of  the  duties,  essential  personal  qualifications 
required,  general  and  special  education  needed,  salaries  paid,  number 
employed,  opportunities  for  advancement,  promotional  lines  and 
educational  opportunities  available  to  facilitate  promotion. 

c)  In  connection  with  these  types  of  junior  employment  to  study 
the  nature  and  use  of  the  business  papers  which  are  involved. 

d)  To  study  and  develop  personal  qualifications  which  make 
for  success.  Throughout  all  the  work  an  effort  is  made  to  inculcate 
such  virtues  as  industry,  punctuality,  initiative,  courtesy  and  thrift. 


468  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

The  work  is  organized  on  the  unit  basis,  by  which  is  meant  that 
from  week  to  week  particular  junior  business  employments  are 
studied.  For  example,  the  work  for  one  week  may  be  that  of  a 
stock  record  clerk  in  which  there  is  included  (a)  such  considerations 
as  the  importance  of  the  clerkship  to  a  business  organization  as  a 
whole,  the  lines  of  promotion,  the  nature  of  the  work  performed;  and 
(b)  a  study  of  the  business  papers  which  are  used.  Following  the 
vocational  work  in  the  morning,  this  class  in  its  related  work  in  the 
afternoon  makes  a  study  of  that  arithmetic  which  is  needed  in  con- 
nection with  the  stock'  records.  In  the  morning  the  pupils  have 
learned  the  nature  and  use  of  these  records,  and  have  gained  a  certain 
degree  of  skill  in  handling  them.  In  the  afternoon  they  are  given 
problems  in  which  are  emphasized  the  arithmetic  and  other  related 
subject  matter  which  may  be  concerned.  This  procedure  means  that 
at  the  end  of  the  day  the  pupil  should  have  accomplished  a  definite 
unit  of  school  work,  and  with  that  accomplishment  there  should  go 
with  the  pupil  to  his  employment  a  feeling  of  enthusiasm  and  progress 
which  is  ultimately  shared  by  the  business  men  themselves. 

It  will  be  observed  that  this  work  has  both  pre-vocational  and 
vocational  values  in  that  in  the  one  instance  it  enables  the  student  to 
discover  and  gauge  his  interests,  abilities  and  possibilities  in  his 
present  or  desired  employment  and  in  the  other  instance  to  acquire 
some  degree  of  preparation  which  leads  to  improvement  in  his  present 
employment,  particularly  if  that  happens  to  be  commercial.^ 

Along  with  Introductory  Business,  courses  are  given  in  penman- 
ship and  typewriting.  The  penmanship  1  regard  as  essential  in 
connection  with  the  business  practice  work. 

In  typewriting  we  have  two  kinds  of  pupils  enrolled:  (a)  that 
class  of  pupils  who  have  had  no  knowledge  of  typewriting  prior  to 
enrollment  in  the  continuation  school  and  to  whom,  therefore,  the 
work  is  preparatory,  and  (b)  that  class  of  pupils  who  have  had  type- 
writing before  enrolling  and  to  whom,  therefore,  the  work  is  extension. 
For  the  first  group  I  question  very  much  if  typewriting  has  sufficient 
value  to  warrant  the  time  given  to  its  study.  The  work  can  be  given 
only  once  a  week,  and  once  a  week  over  a  period  of  thirty-six  weeks 
is  not  suflScient  in  which  to  develop  worth-while  typewriting  tech- 
nique and  skill.     For  the  second  group  of  pupils  I  believe  that  type- 

'  The  two  chief  sources  of  material  which  are  used  in  this  course  are 
Junior  Business  Training  by  F.  G.  Nichols  and  Clerical  Practice  by  Ander- 
son, Ross,  and  Staples. 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS  EDUCATION     469 

writing  is  of  real  value  if  such  pupils  before  enrolling  have  acquired 
a  fair  mastery  of  the  typewriter  keyboard.  For  such  pupils  there 
can  be  offered  a  very  excellent  course  in  typewriting  technique  and 
office  practice,  the  latter  to  involve  a  maximum  amount  of  type- 
writing in  the  handling  of  business  correspondence  and  forms.  The 
number  in  the  second  class  of  pupils  is  very  small  as  compared  with 
that  in  the  first.  Consequently,  typewriting,  with  the  one  exception, 
is  a  subject,  I  believe,  which  has  a  very  doubtful  value  in  continuation 
school  work.  The  course  in  Introductory  Business,  for  example, 
will  prove  of  far  greater  value  both  to  junior  workers  and  employers. 
On  a  basis  of  three  hours,  as  we  have  in  Trenton,  I  would  recom- 
mend the  following  commercial  courses  of  study: 

Minutes 

Elementary  Business  Organization 45 

Study  of  Junior  Business  Employments 45 

Penmanship. 30 

Junior  Business  Practice 60 

COMMERCIAL   CONTINUATION  SCHOOLS  IN   CHICAGO 

Commercial  work  in  continuation  schools  in  Chicago  has 
been  carried  on  both  in  centrally  located  classes  and  in  the 
plants  of  large  businesses.  Its  aims  and  methods  are  described 
as  follows:^ 

In,  Chicago  before  there  was  a  Compulsory  Continuation  School 
Law,  Commercial  Continuation  Schools  were  established  by  the 
Board  of  Education  in  the  ofiices  of  Swift  &  Co.,  Wilson  &  Co., 
Morris  &  Co.,  Chicago  Telephone  Co.,  and  a  general  Commercial 
Continuation  School  for  employed  young  people  in  the  central  busi- 
ness district  was  opened  in  the  McClurg  Building. 

Since  the  passing  of  the  Compulsory  Continuation  School  Law, 
whereby  boys  and  girls  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen  must 
enroll  in  continuation  schools  for  eight  hours  a  week  if  not  in  the  regu- 
lar day  schools,  the  enrollment  has  considerably  increased  and  the 
entire  Jones  School  building  in  the  Central  District  has  been  turned 
over  to  the  Commercial  Continuation  School. 

Commercial  classes  have  been  opened  in  the  Winchell  Continua- 
tion School  for  girls,  the  South  Division  Continuation  School  for 

'  This  statement  of  commercial  work  in  Chicago  continuation  schools 
was  prepared  by  Mr.  William  Bachrach,  supervisor  of  commercial  work  in 
the  high  schools  of  Chicago. 


470  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

boys  and  girls,  and  a  class  is  soon  to  be  begun  in  the  Washbume 
Continuation  School  for  boys. 

From  the  beginning  two  viewpoints  were  kept  in  mind:  to  con- 
tinue the  general  education  of  the  student  by  ofifering  courses  in 
English,  mathematics,  civics,  etc.,  and  also  to  correlate  the  work  with 
the  present  employment  of  the  student  to  as  great  an  extent  as  pos- 
sible. This  could  be  done  very  easily  in  the  schools  located  at  the 
packing  houses.  The  actual  problems  arising  in  the  accounting  and 
correspondence  departments  are  studied  by  the  teacher  and  trans- 
ferred to  the  school  room,  thereby  adding  great  interest  to  what 
would  ordinarily  be  dry  routine  work. 

A  new  movement  which  was  begun  last  year  and  which  seems 
to  be  a  very  sensible  one  is  to  permit  each  student  in  the  continua- 
tion school  to  try  himself  out  in  a  ten  weeks  cycle  of  business  train- 
ing, shop  work,  household  arts  and  science  work,  etc.  In  other 
words,  we  are  coming  to  the  point  of  view  that  it  is  not  fair  to  the 
child  to  force  him  to  crystallize  his  efiforts  in  one  line  of  endeavor  until 
he  has  had  some  opportunity  of  trying  himself  out  under  the  super- 
vision of  his  teacher  and  principal.  After  the  try-out  cycle  he  is 
advised  to  specialize  during  the  remainder  of  his  continuation 
school  course.  The  present  thought  also  is  to  give  shorter  units  of 
instruction,  rather  than  small  parts  of  large  units,  such  as  shorthand 
if  the  student  has  not  had  any  instruction  in  it  previously. 

An  effort  has  been  made  to  break  away  as  much  as  possible  from 
the  text  and  methods  used  in  the  regular  high  schools,  and  in  some 
cases  the  teachers  have  compiled  material  more  suitable  to  the  condi- 
tions of  the  continuation  schools. 

A  COMMERCIAL  CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  A  BUSINESS  PLANT 

Both  the  public-school  system  of  Chicago  and  the  concerns 
where  the  commercial  continuation  schools  are  in  operation 
feel  that  there  is  much  to  be  said  for  the  location  of  a  contmua- 
tion  school  on  the  property  of  a  business  institution.  The  fol- 
lowing material  gives  an  impression  of  the  commercial  continu- 
ation school  in  the  plant  of  Swift  &  Company,  Chicago.  It  is 
to  be  remembered  that  although  Swift  &  Company  furnish  the 
room  and  to  some  extent  the  equipment  for  this  school,  the  public- 
school  authorities  furnish  the  teacher  and  direct  the  course  of 
study.     Incidentally,   the  pay  for  instruction  comes  in  part 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS  EDUCATION     471 

from  the  federal  government  under  the  provisions  of  the  Smith- 
Hughes  Law.' 

A.  Aims: 

1.  To  enable  the  boy  or  girl  who  has  not  completed  the  eighth 
grade  to  obtain  the  minimum  essentials  of  the  work  given  in 
the  public  grammar  schools. 

2.  To  enable  the  boy  or  girl  who  has  an  eighth-grade  education 
to  obtain  an  education  equivalent  to  the  Chicago  two-year 
commercial  high-school  course. 

3.  To  train  the  boy  or  girl  for  lines  to  which  he  or  she  is  mentally 
and  physically  best  adapted. 

4.  To  recommend  capable  boys  or  girls  for  transfer  or  promotion 
when  requested  by  department  heads. 

5.  To  train  the  boy  or  girl  in  that  which  is  directly  applicable  to 
his  or  her  future  activities. 

B.  Selection  of  Subject-Matter: 

1.  Penmanship: 

Special  attention  is  given  to  the  development  of  a  rapid, 
legible  hand.  A  definite  effort  is  made  to  train  the  student  in 
writing  small  legible  figures,  tabulating  in  ink,  and  filling  in 
forms. 

2.  Arithmetic: 

Footing,  cross  footing,  balancing,  check  eleven,  short  cuts 
in  multiplying,  averaging,  figuring  per  cents,  prorating,  dis- 
tributing of  overhead  expenses,  keeping  bank  accounts,  pay- 
rolls, extending  invoices,  rendering  statements  of  account, 
simple  accounting,  etc.,  are  presented  daily  in  both  advanced 
and  elementary  sections. 

3.  EngUsh: 

Much  attention  to  spelling  lists  of  words  evolved  from  the 
company's  correspondence;  elementary  word  study.  The 
business  letter  is  not  only  studied  in  detail  but  original  letters 
are  composed  in  answer  to  practical  business  situations. 

Errors  in  both  written  and  oral  English  are  corrected 
systematically. 

^  This  statement  is  adapted  from  circulars  published  by  Swift  &  Com- 
pany. There  are  several  such  schools  in  Chicago.  They  exist,  of  course, 
elsewhere  as  well. 


472  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Advertising,  year  books,  and  other  literature  of  the  com- 
pany are  used  consistently  as  material  for  spelling,  reading. 
dictation  exercises,  and  discussions. 

Oral  and  written  compositions  receive  regular  attention. 
The  subject-matter  is  based  largely  on  the  industry,  but 
includes  material  from  the  daily  newspaper;  and  such  inci- 
dental material  from  commercial  geography,  civics,  hygiene, 
and  office  practice  as  seems  advisable. 
4.  Business  organization: 

Frequent  lectures  are  given,  by  experts  in  their  line,  on 
departmental  activities.    These  are  followed  by  class  work  and 
reading  assignments  in  our  well  equipped  company  library. 
C.  Methods  of  Teaching: 

Textbooks  are  practically  done  away  with,  and  definite, 
concrete  lessons  based  on  the  office  system  and  organization 
of  the  packing  industry,  worked  out  in  mimeographed  form, 
are  the  basis  of  most  of  the  instruction.  The  office  and  pack- 
ing industry  are  a  laboratory;  the  three  R's,  as  used  in  and 
useful  to  the  packing  industry,  are  the  curriculum.  The 
company  furnishes  rooms,  equipment,  supplies  and  pupils' 
time.  This  last  element  alone  costs  the  company  thousands 
of  dollars  yearly.  Thus  is  the  proper  duty  of  the  state  to 
educate  its  young  citizens  maintained  and  carried  into  indus- 
try; at  the  same  time,  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  particular 
industry  furnishes  the  teachers  with  a  vast  mine  of  material 
which  is  most  immediately  useful  to  those  pupils  going  into 
the  industry  in  question  and  which,  in  all  probability,  never 
would  find  its  way  into  any  textbook. 

This  collaboration,  in  addition  to  the  advantages  named, 
is  a  good  insurance  against  purely  "vestibule  school"  instruc- 
tion, which  is  liable  to  be  found  in  private  corporation 
schools. 

Definite  instruction  in  packing-house  problems  and 
methods  is  given  by  means  of  talks  by  the  department  heads 
and  other  executives  supplemented  by  trips  to  the  part  of  the 
plant  concerned,  and  followed  up  later  by  oral  and  written 
composition  exercises  and  arithmetic  problems  based  on  the 
particular  department  studied.  It  may  be  seen  that  this 
school  has  an  advisory  faculty  which  the  most  richly  endowed 
university  might  be  proud  of. 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS  EDUCATION     473 

D.  Special  Classes: 

Girls  under  eighteen  years  of  age  are  given  instruction  in 
typewriting  and  comptometer  operation;  another  small  group 
of  girls  trained  in  stenography  in  high  school,  but  without 
business  experience,  are  given  a  five  months'  finishing  course 
in  office  practice  and  English.  At  the  same  time  they  do  the 
regular  work  of  a  stenographer,  though  light  volume  only  is 
expected  of  them. 

E.  Summary: 

Our  aim  is  not  to  make  a  mere  machine  out  of  the  student, 
or  to  fit  him  for  a  blind-alley  job.  On  the  other  hand  we  aim 
to  fit  him  technically  and  give  him  a  broader  view  of  what 
business  really  is. 

THE  r6lE  of  the  CONTINUATION  SCHOOL 

If  growth  and  interest  during  the  past  few  years  are  indica- 
tions, the  continuation  school  is  to  play  a  great  part  in  the  voca- 
tional education  of  the  future.  What  part  it  can  best  play 
needs  careful  thought.  Undoubtedly  it  will  for  some  time  to 
come  play  a  multiple  role.  The  work  which  it  can  perform  may 
be  thought  of  as  having  three  degrees  of  breadth:  (i)  the 
broadest  possible  cultural  education,  (2)  the  interpretation  of 
the  student's  job  so  that  its  implications  become  more  apparent 
and  more  full  of  meaning,  and  (3)  a  training  in  the  performance  of 
the  job  itself  or  in  the  technique  of  other  jobs  to  which  a  transfer 
may  be  desired.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  one 
reason  why  the  continuation  school  must  give  some  notion  of 
social  relations  and  of  the  duties  of  a  citizen  to  its  present  pupils 
is  because  instruction  in  such  matters  has  been  crowded  out  of 
the  regular  school  courses  by  the  pressure  of  technical  training, 
or  because  the  students  have  dropped  school  at  an  early  age. 

Let  us  assimie,  however,  a  rearrangement  of  work.  In  a 
state  where  a  compulsory^  continuation-school  law  is  operative, 
the  student  will  necessarily,  if  the  law  is  enforced,  be  under  the 
direction  of  the  school  authorities  until  he  is  sixteen,  seventeen, 
or  eighteen  years  of  age.  Under  these  circumstances  it  seems 
likely  that  the  number  of  students  who  drop  out  of  the  regular 
school  work  will  be  lessened.    The  two-year  high-school  com- 


474  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

mercial  courses,  for  example,  should  prove  less  popular  than 
they  are  at  present,  since  the  graduates  of  such  courses,  being 
too  young  to  evade  the  continuation-school  law,  will  find  that 
their  escape  from  school  is  but  partial  and  their  opportunity 
to  earn  very  limited.  The  demand,  therefore,  for  short  cuts 
and  ready-made  education  should  lessen.  Even  if  the  demand 
does  not  lessen,  the  public-school  authorities,  having  in  mind 
their  long  period  of  control  over  the  student,  will  do  well  to 
rearrange  their  objectives  in  most  of  the  periods  of  school  life. 

Since  the  student  is  to  stay  in  school  longer,  the  need  for 
early  technical  preparation  disappears.  In  the  grade  school, 
and  especially  in  the  early  years  of  the  high  school,  we  can  no 
longer  avoid  doing  our  real  educational  duty  of  attempting  to 
interpret  the  "Business  of  Living"  for  the  student.  The 
excuse  that  the  student  will  be  in  school  only  a  brief  time,  or 
that  he  must  have  a  quick  technical  education  to  enable  him  to 
earn  money,  has  little  validity  in  a  state  where  a  compulsory 
part-time  law  is  in  force.  When  the  early  years  of  the  second- 
ary school  are  thus  used  for  broad,  general  work,  the  part- 
time  and  continuation  school  will  find,  for  pupils  so  trained,  its 
own  proper  place  is  in  dealing  with  certain  techniques.  On  the 
basis  of  a  broad  foundation,  a  student  may  be  related  to  this  job, 
perhaps  introduced  to  it,  certainly  improved  in  its  performance, 
by  the  continuation  school.  But  such  introduction  should  come 
to  require  less  of  an  interpretation  of  a  job  in  its  relation  to 
social  living.  The  meaning  of  our  social  life  should  have  come 
earlier  and  the  application  of  that  knowledge  to  a  specific  task, 
once  that  task  is  comprehended,  should  follow  naturally. 

There  should  thus  come  to  be  left  for  the  continuation  school 
a  narrower  and  more  applied  field  of  operations.  This  field, 
though  narrow,  will  be  varied.  The  work  in  such  schools  must 
be  practical  and  will  demand  for  its  proper  performance  quite 
as  careful  planning,  organization,  and  teaching,  as  are  needed 
in  any  other  type  of  school.  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that 
the  idea  of  short  unit  courses  will  persist.  Materials  for  such 
courses  must  be  prepared.  There  seems,  too,  good  reason  to 
believe  that  the  continuation  school  and  the  corporation  school 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS  EDUCATION     475 

will,  to  a  considerable  extent,  join  hands.  In  fact,  there  are 
instances  already  established  where  such  schools  are  in  part 
co-operative,  in*  part  continuation,  an(w  in  part  corporation 
institutions. 

On  the  basis  of  a  properly  organized  grade  and  secondary 
education,  the  continuation  school  can  be  an  agency  of  great 
value.  Its  threat  in  the  past  has  been  in  receiving  pupils  at 
too  early  an  age,  while  they  were  without  any  proper  basis 
of  choice  of  vocation  and  without  any  notion  of  the  social 
implications  of  various  types  of  work.  With  a  proper  reorgan- 
ization of  the  work  in  the  grades  and  secondary  school,  however, 
this  difficulty  should  be  avoided,  and  the  continuation  school 
can  play  a  role  of  increasing  value  in  adjusting  students  to 
industry  and  in  the  improvement  of  specific  vocational  skills. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  What  is  a  continuation  school? 

2.  May  continuation  schools  be  compulsory  ?  not  compulsory  ? 

3.  Taking  the  Chicago  continuation  school  as  an  example,  when  are 
the  schools  in  session?  What  are  the  requirements  for  pupils 
who  go  to  continuation  schools?  Must  eighth-grade  gradu- 
ates attend?  Who  need  not  go  to  continuation  schools?  Do 
continuation-school  pupils  have  a  vacation  ? 

4.  A  continuation  school  is  sometimes  said  to  be  a  school  for  young 
people  who  have  gone  to  work.  Does  this  mean  that  an  unem- 
ployed person  of  the  designated  ages  is  not  required  to  attend 
continuation  school  ? 

5.  The  Illinois  law  provides  that  employment  certificates  will  be 
withdrawn  from  those  pupils  whose  attendance  is  irregular. 
Does  this  seem  an  adequate  penalty?  What  weakness  or 
strength  do  you  discern  in  it  ? 

6.  Would  it  be  as  well  to  plan  evening  schools  to  do  all  the  work 
now  attempted  by  continuation  schools  ? 

7.  From  some  source  secure  figures  dealing  with  the  same  ideas  as 
those  presented  by  the  survey  of  the  New  York  Military  Train- 
ing Commission.  On  the  basis  of  the  data  which  you  find,  is  it 
your  conclusion  that  the  New  York  figures  overstate  or  under- 
state the  case  ? 


47^  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

8.  The  tradition  of  the  continuation  school  is  not  that  of  a  voca- 
tional school.     Explain. 

9.  "State  legislation,  prior  to  the  Smith-Hughes  Law,  was  based 
upon  conflicting  attitudes."    What  were  the  matters  of  conflict  ? 

10.  What  would  you  understand  by  the  phrases  "a  mandatory 
contmuation  school  law,"  "permissive  continuation  school  law," 
and  "permissive-mandatory  continuation  school  law"  ? 

11.  What  was  the  Smith-Hughes  Act?  What  were  the  conditions 
under  which  the  Smith-Hughes  Law  made  federal  money  avail- 
able for  state  aid  in  education  ? 

12.  What  are  the  chief  matters  for  which  provision  must  be  made  in 
enacting  a  part-time  compulsory-education  law. 

13.  Just  what  was  the  significance  of  the  Smith-Hughes  Act  to  con- 
tinuation schools  ? 

14.  How  would  you  account  for  the  fact  that  commercial  education 
was  less  generously  provided  for  under  the  Smith-Hughes  Law 
than  was  industrial  education  ? 

1 5.  It  was  only  by  liberal  interpretation  of  the  phrase  "  subjects  given 
to  enlarge  the  civic  or  vocational  intelligence  of  workers"  that 
commercial  education  was  given  attention  under  the  Smith- 
Hughes  Law.    Explain. 

16.  "The  Commercial  Education  Service  has  two  phases."  What 
are  these  two  phases?  What  ruling  was  necessary  to  make  it 
legal  that  co-operative  high-school  classes  in  retail-selling  and 
oflace  practice  could  be  subsidized  with  federal  funds  ? 

17.  Commercial  work  in  continuation  schools  is  incidental.  Ex- 
amples of  such  work  must,  therefore,  be  studied  in  a  setting  of  gen- 
eral continuation-school  organization.  Is  this  statement  true  ?  Is 
it  a  natural  outgrowth  of  the  development  of  continuation  schools  ? 

18.  Explain  the  course  as  outlined  for  the  boys  at  Cass  Technical 
High  School  of  Detroit.  Is  this  course  essentially  concerned  with 
vocational  activities  or  with  the  general  broadening  of  the 
student's  intelligence  ? 

19.  What  are  the  features  of  the  Detroit  continuation  school  for 
girls  ?  Why  differentiate  the  schools  for  boys  and  girls  ?  What 
are  the  chief  vocations  for  girls?  Is  the  problem  of  a  girls' 
continuation  school  a  more  difficult  one  than  the  boys'  continua- 
tion school  ? 

20.  What  is  the  purpose  of  the  "mixed  group"  in  the  girls'  continua- 
tion school  of  Detroit  ? 


CONTINUATION  SCHOOL  IN  BUSINESS  EDUCATION     477 

21.  What  special  problem  is  presented  to  continuation  schools  by 
pupils  in  employments  that  demand  no  special  skill  or  training  ? 

22.  Examine  the  basis  of  commercial  work  in  the  Detroit  continua- 
tion school.  Prepare  a  list  of  comments  on  this  work.  These 
comments  may  be  favorable  or  adverse,  or  they  may  elaborate 
on  some  of  the  ways  in  which  this  work  can  be  done. 

23.  In  Trenton  the  work  is  organized  on  a  unit  basis.  What  are 
Lomax'  comments  on  the  Trenton  experience  in  teaching 
typewriting  ?  Would  you  be  inclined  to  extend  the  comment  to 
any  other  subjects  ? 

24.  The  directors  of  commercial  continuation  schools  in  Chicago 
think  rather  highly  of  the  continuation  schools  which  have  been 
placed  in  business  plants.  What  advantages  are  to  be  found 
in  schools  so  located?  Do  such  schools  gain  any  advantage  in 
teaching  matters  of  general  information  or  only  in  teaching  those 
of  immediate  vocational  concern?  Do  such  schools  appear  to 
give  a  financial  advantage  to  the  public-school  system  ?  Do  they 
give  a  financial  advantage  to  the  corporation  as  compared  with 
the  organization  of  a  corporation  school  ? 

25.  The  statement  is  made  concerning  one  continuation  school  in  a 
business  plant  that  the  pupils'  time  alone  "costs  the  company 
thousands  of  dollars  annually."    Is  this  a  valid  claim  ? 

26.  Work  over  the  material  describing  the  continuation  school  in 
the  plant  of  Swift  &  Company,  making  a  list  of  comments  on  the 
various  divisions  of  the  material  presented. 

27.  Draw  up  a  statement  or  series  of  statements  which  present  what 
seems  to  you  to  be  the  proper  place  or  role  of  the  continuation 
school  in  the  planned  scheme  of  business  education. 


CHAPTER  XVm 
CO-OPERATIVE  BUSINESS  COURSES 

It  is  easy  to  confuse  the  co-operative  plans  of  training  which 
we  are  to  discuss  in  this  chapter  with  continuation  schools  or 
part-time  schools  as  they  are  often  called.  The  terms  are  used 
more  or  less  interchangeably  by  many  persons.  Indeed  in 
some  instances  there  is  official  treatment  of  the  two  as  practically 
identical.  For  example,  under  the  rulings  of  the  Federal  Board 
for  Vocational  Education,  "  the  decision  as  to  whether  the  high- 
school  co-operative  classes  in  commercial  subjects  shall  be  sub- 
sidized or  not "  rests  entirely  with  the  state  board.  In  case  they 
are  so  subsidized,  many  would  think  they  could  properly  be 
spoken  of  only  as  continuation  schools.  In  many  instances, 
however,  no  such  subsidy  is  arranged,  and,  in  fact,  co-operative 
schools  were  in  successful  operation  before  the  passage  of  the 
Smith-Hughes  Law.  In  the  case  of  co-operative  schools,  the 
school  is  the  agency  which  operates  and  controls  the  scheme  of 
education.  The  work  is  for  regular  students,  while  a  continua- 
tion school  is  essentially  for  those  persons  who  are  no  longer 
classified  as  regular  students  and  whose  interest  in  education 
is  secondary  rather  than  primary.  The  co-operative  school 
course,  then,  is  a  device  for  aiding  and  improving  the  regular 
school  instruction,  while  the  continuation  school  is  a  means  of 
continuing  or  supplementing  an  education  which  has  been 
formally  completed. 

The  co-operative  idea,  in  American  education  at  least, 
appears  to  have  been  begun  in  the  work  of  Dean  Herman  L. 
Schneider,  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati. 

In  the  College  of  Engineering  of  the  University  of  Cincin- 
nati he  first  applied  his  much-imitated  plan:^ 

^Adapted  from  the  University  of  Cincinnati  Record,  Series  I,  Vol. 
XVII,  No.  I,  January,  192 1.  "Co-operative  Courses,  College  of  Engineer- 
ing and  Commerce,  1921-1922,"  pp.  10-13. 

478 


CO-OPERATIVE  BUSINESS  COURSES  479 

The  College  of  Engineering  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati  origi- 
nated in  a  professorship  of  civil  engineering,  which  was  established 
in  1874.  In  this  year  a  complete  four- year  course  was  offered,  leading 
to  the  degree  of  Civil  Engineer.  By  1905,  instruction  had  been 
extended  to  include  mechanical,  chemical,  and  electrical  engineering, 
and  the  enrollment  in  the  several  departments  totaled  120  students. 

In  September,  1906,  instruction  on  the  co-operative  plan  was 
begun,  and  the  first  class  of  27  co-operative  students  was  admitted. 
The  regular  full-time  theoretical  courses  were  continued,  with  an 
enrollment  of  107  students,  but  the  co-operative  course  was  offered 
as  an  alternative  to  those  students  of  mechanical,  chemical,  and 
electrical  engineering  who  wished  to  combine  practical  experience 
with  their  study  of  technical  theory.  Under  the  co-operative  plan, 
a  carefully  co-ordinated  schedule  was  arranged,  whereby  the  student 
spent  six  years  in  alternate  weeks  of  classroom  instruction  at  the 
University  and  of  practical  work  in  the  industries  of  Cincinnati. 
The  co-operative  class  was  divided  into  two  sections,  one  of  which  was 
at  the  University  while  the  other  was  at  work  in  the  shops,  and  vice 
versa.  Unless  by  special  arrangement,  each  student  had  an  alternate, 
so  that  both  the  school  and  the  shop  were  always  full-manned. 
During  the  first  year,  the  University  co-operated  with  fifteen  firms, 
including  chiefly  manufacturers  of  machine  tools  and  of  electrical 
equipment. 

In  September,  1909,  a  co-operative  course  in  civil  engineering  was 
added  to  those  in  mechanical,  electrical,  and  chemical  engineering. 
The  years  from  1909-1910  to  1916-1917  witnessed  a  steady  growth  of 
the  co-operative  course  in  the  four  departments. 

More  significant  than  the  number  of  firms  are  the  variety  of 
industries  and  the  increased  radius  of  operation.  Typical  of  the  firms 
added  were  rolling  mills,  structural  iron  works,  a  gas  and  electric 
company,  and  manufacturers  of  automobiles,  elevators,  engines, 
bicycles  and  motorcycles,  cash  registers,  fire  engines,  printing  machin- 
ery, paper-making  machinery,  adding  machines,  roofing,  ink,  and 
soap.  The  area  covered  by  these  industries  included  not  only  the 
city  and  suburbs  of  Cincinnati,  but  also  Hamilton,  Middletown, 
Dayton,  Piqua,  and  Springfield,  Ohio,  and  Richmond  and  Indianap- 
olis, Indiana.  During  this  period  the  time  of  the  co-operative  course 
was  changed  from  six  years  of  nine  months  each  to  five  years  of 
eleven  months  each,  and  the  period  of  alternation  was  changed  from 
one  week  to  two. 


480  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

In  April,  191 9,  the  College  of  Commerce  was  merged  with  the 
College  of  Engineering,  and  a  reorganization  of  both  courses  was 
begun  by  committees  of  the  two  faculties.  In  the  Department  of 
Commerce,  as  in  the  engineering  departments,  the  instruction  is 
given  on  the  co-operative  plan.  Under  this  arrangement,  the  student 
spends  alternate  two-  or  four-week  periods  at  work  m  various  business 
estabhshments  in  and  near  Cincinnati.  During  the  first  two  years  of 
the  course,  emphasis  is  placed  on  production,  and  the  student  obtains 
experience  in  one  of  the  electrical,  chemical,  or  mechanical  manufac- 
turing plants. 

The  last  three  years  of  the  course  are  devoted  to  a  study  of  the 
problems  of  financing  and  marketing.  These  terms  must  be  inter- 
preted broadly  as  including  all  the  relationships  involved  in  the 
conduct  of  business  aside  from  the  purely  internal  technical  processes 
of  production. 

The  city  of  Fitchburg,  Massachusetts,  furnishes  an  out- 
standing example  of  a  public-school  system  which  took  over 
Dean  Schneider's  plan  and  made  extensive  use  of  it  in  connection 
with  industrial  education.^ 

The  idea  was  not  so  rapidly  absorbed  in  commercial  work, 
although  there  are  now  numerous  instances  of  its  employment 
in  public-school  commercial  courses.  It  has  been  applied  per- 
haps most  frequently  in  courses  in  retail  selling,  although  it  has 
been  used  often  and  extensively  in  office-work  courses. 

TYPES   OF  CO-OPERATIVE   BUSINESS   COURSES 

Three  clearly  distinguishable  plans  are  used  in  co-operative 
business  courses.  In  one  plan  the  pupils  are  allowed  to  go  into 
commercial  establishments  on  Saturdays  and  other  holidays  and 
after  the  regular  school  hours.  A  second  plan  may  be  called  the 
"altemate-half-day  "  plan.  Under  this  arrangement  two  pupils 
work  in  one  establishment,  one  taking  care  of  the  duties  of  a 
position  in  the  forenoon  and  the  other  in  the  afternoon.  The 
second  pupil  attends  school  in  the  morning,  the  first  in  the  after- 
noon.   A  third  plan  is  the  "alternate-week"  plan.     In  this 

*  An  interesting  description  of  co-operation  applied  through  an  entire 
course  is  Arthur  E.  Morgan's  "What  Is  College  For?"  in  the  Atlantic 
Monthly  (May,  1922),  pp.  642-50. 


CO-OPERATIVE  BUSINESS  COURSES  481 

plan  the  school  work  is  repeated  alternate  weeks  for  the  two  sets 
of  pupils,  the  two  groups  alternating  on  the  job. 

CO-OPERATIVE   COURSES  IN   RETAIL  SELLING 

The  effort  to  carry  on  some  form  of  co-operative  high-school 
work  in  retail  selling  seems  to  have  begun  when  Mrs.  Lucinda 
W.  Prince,  now  head  of  the  Prince  School  of  Education  for  Store 
Service  of  Boston,  introduced  courses  in  retail  selling  into  the 
Boston  high  schools.  Pupils  were  placed  in  stores  on  Saturday 
to  get  their  store  experience,  or  after  school  hours  and  on  Satur- 
days. The  courses  proved  popular,  and  the  number  of  pupils 
increased  rapidly,  though  it  is  claimed  that  there  was  a  good 
deal  of  dissatisfaction  because  a  great  many  of  the  girls  who 
graduated  left  the  field  of  retail  selling.  This  caused  merchants 
to  complain  that  after  they  had  put  time  and  money  into  the 
work  of  training,  the  young  people  did  not  stay  with  them. 
This  plan  of  Saturday  and  holiday  work  which  gained  some 
publicity  as  the  "Boston  plan"  appears  now  to  have  been  in 
part  abandoned  or  at  least  supplemented  by  the  alternate-week 
plan.  This  change  is  interesting  in  view  of  Boston's  historic 
position  in  this  movement  and  certain  possible  reasons  for  the 
loss  of  interest  in  salesmanship  under  the  older  scheme.  These 
have  been  suggested.^ 

1.  Pupils  in  a  commercial  course  are  devoting  a  large  part  of 
their  time  to  preparing  for  office  work.  Upon  graduation  they  are 
better  prepared  for  this  work  and  more  interested  in  it  than  in  the 
salesmanship. 

2.  The  courses  in  salesmanship  and  merchandise,  being  new 
and  somewhat  experimental,  were  less  rich  in  educational  content 
than  other  courses  and  so  did  not  command  the  respect  of  the 
pupils. 

3.  The  store  experience  given  in  the  rush  of  Saturday  was  both 
less  valuable  and  less  interesting,  and  more  trying  than  when  given 
under  normal  conditions. 

*  These  reasons  are  adapted  from  Bulletin  of  High  Points,  IV,  No.  2 
(February,  1922),  p.  4.  Published  by  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  City 
of  New  York. 


482  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

4.  Saturday  work  for  two  years  does  not  give  a  pupil  enough 
experience  to  assure  her  a  good  position  upon  graduation,  such  a  posi- 
tion, for  instance,  as  that  of  a  regular  sales  clerk  in  a  good  department, 
although  for  a  pupil  gifted  with  a  desirable  personality  it  may  prove  a 
sufficient  apprenticeship. 

5.  If  one  adds  to  all  this,  the  prejudice  against  store  work  among 
many  of  the  parents  and  teachers,  the  opposition  which  any  new 
movement  has  to  overcome  and  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  satisfactory 
teachers  for  new  subjects,  it  is  not  hard  to  see  why  salesmanship 
courses  conducted  on  the  Boston  plan  have  made  but  little  progress. 

ESSENTIALS   IN  CO-OPERATIVE   CLASSES 

Four  things  seem  to  be  essential  for  satisfactory  co-operative 
commercial  work.  These  are  a  well-planned  course,  trained 
teachers,  proper  agreements  with  business  houses,  and  a  capable 
co-ordinator.  In  considering  the  possibility  of  well-planned 
courses  we  can  perhaps  do  no  better  than  to  examine  several 
courses  which  are  in  operation  in  high  schools. 

The  co-operative  course  at  present  in  operation  in  Boston 
may  be  examined  first.' 

THE  CO-OPERATIVE  COURSE 

The  week-in  and  week-out  plan  of  retail  selling  revolves  around 
salesmanship,  but  it  adds  several  other  subjects.  In  this  course, 
pupils  are  employed  by  the  large  stores.  If  they  fail  of  employment, 
they  must  report  to  the  high  school  for  full  time  instruction.  The 
stores  keep  a  record  of  attendance  and  report  the  quality  of  the  work 
done  by  the  pupils  who  are  routed  through  the  stores  according  to 
the  following  schedule: 

Marking 2  weeks 

Examining 4  weeks 

Stock  work 2  weeks 

Cashiering 4  weeks 

Selling 8  weeks 

Total  20  weeks  in  store 

« This  statement  is  adapted  from  Louis  J.  Fish,  "Retail  Selling  in  the 
Boston  High  Schools,"  Current  Affairs,  December  12,  192 1. 


CO-OPERATIVE  BUSINESS  COURSES  483 

Retail  Selling  Course  as  Authorized  by  the  School  Committee. 

Alternate  Weeks  in  Stores  and  in  School 

two-year  courses* 

Third  Year 

Periods 

Physical  Training 2 

English  III  (business) , 5 

History  of  Commerce , 5 

Physics  or  Chemistry  (household) 5 

Salesmanship  (including  store  mathematics) 5 

Drawing  III  (applied) 4 

Co-operative  Store  Practice  (or  in  school) 

Fourth  Year 

Physical  Training 2 

EngUsh  IV  (business) 5 

American  History  and  Citizenship 4 

Salesmanship  (with  store  mathematics) 5 

Textiles 5 

Commercial  Law  or  Drawing  IV  (applied) 3  or  4 

Co-operative  Store  Practice  (or  in  school) 

one-year  course* 
Fourth  Year 

Periods 
Physical  Training 2 

English  IV  (business) 5 

American  History  and  Citizenship 4 

Salesmanship  (with  store  mathematics) 5 

Textiles 5 

Drawing  IV  (applied) 4 

Co-operative  Store  Practice  (or  in  school) 

Pupils  taking  this  course  are  divided  into  two  groups,  one  group 
to  be  in  the  store  while  the  other  group  is  in  school — each  group 
changing  places  alternate  weeks,  and  the  school  work  repeated  alter- 
nate weeks. 

*  This  course  is  authorized  for  the  third  and  fourth  years  of  a  pupil's 
four-year  course. 

*  This  course  is  authorized  for  the  fourth  year  only  of  the  four-year 
course. 


4^4  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Two  objects  have  been  kept  clearly  in  view  in  preparing  these 
courses.  First,  the  pupil  must  be  thoroughly  trained  to  do  the  tasks 
which  fall  to  her  lot  as  stock  girl,  examiner,  marker,  inspector,  or 
salesperson.  Most  important  of  all,  she  must  be  trained  in  habits  of 
promptness,  neatness,  and  accuracy.  Absolute  honesty  must  be 
held  up  to  her  as  a  sine  qua  non.  Second,  the  pupil  must  be  given 
the  foundation  on  which  to  build  if  she  rises  to  an  executive  position 
in  the  store.  Such  a  pupil  may  fairly  be  expected  to  rise  out  of  the 
ranks  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  and  any  training  offered  by  the 
high  school  should  take  this  into  account. 

The  co-operative  course  in  retail  selling  is  given  at  the  High 
School  of  Practical  Arts  to  which  any  pupil  in  the  Boston  high  schools 
may  transfer. 

CO-OPERATIVE  COURSES   IN  NEW  YORK 

The  Haaren  High  School  of  New  York  furnishes  another 
very  interesting  example  of  co-operative  work.  The  Haaren 
High  School,  it  should  be  noted,  is  the  co-operative  high  school 
for  the  city  of  New  York.  Co-operative  courses  are  conducted 
only  there,  and  pupils  who  wish  to  take  co-operative  courses 
go  to  Haaren  rather  than  to  other  New  York  high  schools.  This 
concentration  has  obviously  some  administrative  advantages. 
This  notion  of  concentrating  one  type  of  work  is  similar  to  the 
idea  of  concentrating  commercial  work .  in  specialized  high 
schools.     Certain  facts  concerning  the  work  at  Haaren  follow.' 

WHO  MAY  BE  ADMITTED 

1.  A  graduate  of  elementary  school. 

2.  A  graduate  of  an  intermediate  school. 

3.  Any  student  desiring  to  transfer  from  another  high  school. 
Diploma  given 

Either  school  gives  a  regular  high  school  diploma. 

The  four  year  commercial  diploma  is  recognized  by  colleges  offer- 
ing advanced  business  courses. 

The  industrial  diploma  admits  to  certain  technical  schools  such 
as  the  University  of  Cincinnati,  Lowell  School  of  Design,  etc. 

The  courses  do  not  prepare  for  an  academic  college. 

Regents'  examinations  are  not  given. 

» The  data  given  is  adapted  from  literature  of  the  Haaren  High  School 
in  March,  1922. 


CO-OPERATIVE  BUSINESS  COURSES  485 

Courses  offered 

A  secretarial  course  for  pupils  desiring  training  as  stenographers 
and  typists,  including  actual  experience  as  such  with  business  firms. 

An  accounting  course  training  for  business  positions  in  this  line 
of  work  or  as  preparatory  work  or  university  training.  Actual 
practice  with  business  firms  is  given. 

A  course  in  salesmanship  including  instruction  in  raw  materials, 
processes  of  manufacture,  and  marketing  of  goods.  During  the 
course  employment  and  adequate  training  in  the  actual  selling  of  goods 
is  furnished  in  the  largest  stores. 

Industrial  courses,  where  boys  may  enter  technical,  chemical  or 
electrical  occupations. 

Employment  work 

Before  pupils  are  sent  out  to  work,  a  position  is  carefully  investi- 
gated by  a  co-ordinator  and  must  meet  the  requirements  of  the  school 
in  regard  to  surroundings,  type  of  work,  hours  and  compensation. 
Every  effort  is  made  to  fit  the  pupil  to  the  job.  Misfits  are  changed 
from  one  position  to  another  until  the  work  for  which  they  are  best 
suited  is  found. 

Although  all  outside  work  is  under  the  supervision  of  the  school, 
the  pupil  is  subject  to  the  same  conditions  of  employment  that  he  will 
have  to  face  at  graduation. 

In  the  description  of  the  co-operative  courses  in  salesman- 
ship, textiles,  color,  design,  and  advertising  at  the  Haaren  High 
School,  the  outlines  are  here  very  much  abbreviated,  and 
samples  from  the  outline  rather  than  the  outline  as  a  whole  are 
introduced:^ 

The  outlines  in  Salesmanship,  Textiles,  Non-Textiles,  Color  and 
Design,  and  Advertising  which  follow  have  been  developed  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  classes  in  these  subjects  at  the  Haaren  High  School. 
In  order  to  grasp  the  full  significance  of  these  outlines  one  must  under- 
stand that  this  school  offers  a  four-year  high-school  course  intended 
to  fit  boys  and  girls  for  selling,  especially  in  the  retail  field.  After 
the  first  year,  pupils  are  placed  on  the  week-in-week-out  plan  in  vari- 
ous stores  of  the  city.    By  this  means  practical  experience  under 

» From  an  unsigned  statement  in  Bulletin  of  High  Points,  III,  No.  8 
(October,  192 1),  pp.  9-19.  Published  by  the  Board  of  Education  of  the 
City  of  New  York. 


486  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

normal  conditions  goes  hand  in  hand  with  school  training.  In  the 
store,  they  are  doing  messenger  work,  packing,  and  stock  work  in 
the  second  year.  In  school,  they  are  learning  the  importance  of  good 
stock-keeping  and  the  best  methods  of  caring  for  such  merchandise 
as  is  commonly  found  in  the  stores  of  the  city.  By  the  third  year  of 
the  school  course  most  of  the  pupils  are  selling.  In  this  year  much 
training  is  given  in  selling,  as  the  outline  indicates. 

Two  objects  have  been  kept  clearly  in  view  in  preparing  these 
outlines.  First,  the  pupil  must  be  thoroughly  trained  to  do  the  tasks 
which  fall  to  his  lot  as  stock  boy,  packer,  or  salesman,  with  accuracy 
and  intelligence.  Second,  the  pupil  must  be  given  the  foundation 
on  which  to  build  if  he  is  to  rise  to  an  executive  position  in  the  store. 
Our  intelligence  tests  indicate  that  the  pupil  who  is  able  and  willing 
to  finish  a  four-year  high-school  course  is  above  the  average  in  mental 
ability.  Such  a  person  may  fairly  be  expected  to  rise  out  of  the  ranks 
in  the  course  of  a  few  years  and  any  training  offered  by  the  school 
should  take  this  into  account. 

Second  Term} 
I.  Stock  keeping 

A.  What  is  meant  by  a  well-kept  stock  ? 

B.  Dead  stock  caused  by: 
II.  Salesmanship 

III.  Salesmanship  of  merchandise 

A.  Customer 

B.  Sales  clerk 

C.  Talking  points  of  merchandise 

D.  The  sale 

E:  Much  practice  in  selling  by  demonstration  sales 

IV.  Use  of  telephone 

V.  Practice  in  writing  and  fig'iring  sales  checks 

Third  Term 

I.  Functions  of  the  department  store 

A.  Buying  goods 

B.  Buying  problems 

C.  SeUing 

D.  Service  to  customers 

*The  first  term  deals  with  personality  and  to  some  extent  with  the 
relation  of  the  individual  to  the  organization. 


CO-OPERATIVE  BUSINESS  COURSES  487 

II.  Sales  training 

A.  Types  of  customers 

B.  Answering  objections 

C.  Vocabulary  work 

D.  Sales  dialogues  prepared 

Pi.  Practice  in  store  mathematics  discount 

Fourth  I'erm 

I.  History  of  retail  selling 
II.  Different  types  of  retail  establishments 

A.  Characteristics  and  special  advantages  and  limitations  of 
each  of  the  following: 

III.  Wholesale  selling 

A.  Manufacturer  and  sales  agents'  expositions 

B.  Manufacturers'  selling  department 

C.  Manufacturers'  agents 

D.  Jobbers 

E.  Traders  and  speculators 

IV.  Cost  of  production 
A.  Manufacture 

V.  Factors  determining  the  market  price 

VI.  Cost  of  retailing 

VII.  Store  mathematics.     Problems  based  on  the  above 

VIII.  Training  in  selling  for  these  different  types  of  organizations 

Fifth  and  Sixth  Terms 

I.  Types  of  business  organizations 

A.  Retail 

B.  Wholesale 

II.  Employment  problems 

A.  Employment  blank.     Content  and  purpose 

B.  Interview.    Analysis  of  the  job 

C.  Physical  and  mental  tests 

III.  Welfare  work  in  mercantile  establishments 

A.  Need  for  it 

B.  Divisions 

1.  Outside  activities,  recreational  work 

2.  Lunch  room 

3.  Health 

4.  Mutual  Benefit  Association 


488  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

IV.  Educational  departments 

A.  Place  of  the  educational  department 

B.  Content  of  courses 

C.  Error  systems 

D.  Rating  system 

E.  Methods  of  paying  sales  people:  Salary,  bonus  salary,  and 
commission 

F.  Manuals  in  mail-order  houses,  banks  and  stores 

G.  Theory  and  practice  of  teaching 
V.  Merchandising 

A.  Store  advertising 

B.  Mail-order  department 

C.  Adjustment  department 

D.  Correspondence  department 

E.  Comparison  department 

F.  Buying — department  budget 

G.  Selling — demonstration  sales 
Textiles 

I.  Acquaintance  with  materials  in  general.  Samples  of  common 
materials,  with  which  the  students  are  familiar,  are  placed  in 
their  hands  to  be  examined  and  unravelled.  With  the  unravel- 
ling of  the  material  an  idea  of  warp  and  filling  is  introduced, 
and  the  consequent  strength  of  finished  materials 

A.  Definition  of  textiles,  woof  or  filling,  picks,  ends,  selvedge, 
fiber,  thread  (yam) 

B.  Weaves. 

C.  Staple  fabrics.  (Students  are  taught  to  use  the  pick  glass 
to  examine  materials  for  weave,  number  of  picks  and  ends 
and  kind  of  material) 

II.  Acquaintance  with  woolen  materials 

A.  General  characteristics 

B.  Characteristics  of  wool  fiber 

C.  Causes  of  peculiarities  in  wool  fiber 

III.  Carpets 

A.  Kinds 

B.  Uses  for  each 

C.  Where  manufactured 

D.  History  of  carpet-making 

IV.  Acquaintance  with  silk 
A.  Tests  for  silk 


CO-OPERATIVE  BUSINESS  COURSES  489 

V.  Acquaintance  with  cotton  , 

VI.  Acquaintance  with  Unen 
VII.  Laces 

A.  Real  hand-made  lace 

B.  Imitation  or  machine-made 

In  addition  to  this  study,  the  salesmanship  course  includes 
a  similar  study  of  books,  stationery,  leather  goods,  rubber  goods, 
jewelry,  cosmetics,  toilet  articles,  notions,  furniture,  china, 
glass,  and  silverware. 

THE  ROCHESTER  EXPERIENCE 

Another  example  worth  viewing  is  the  experiment  in 
Rochester,  New  York:^ 

The  part-time  commercial  classes  were  actually  started  in 
Rochester  in  September,  191 7,  through  co-operation  with  the  Com- 
mittee on  Education  at  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  In  August  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  sent  out  a  circular  letter  to  a  large  number 
of  business  offices.  This  letter  described  the  proposed  plan  and 
suggested  that  the  reader  fill  in  and  return  an  enclosed  blank  form  for 
an  interview  with  a  representative  of  the  Board  of  Education.  The 
replies  to  these  letters  were  very  encouraging  and  the  interviews  which 
followed  were  even  more  gratifying.  By  September  there  had  been 
listed  all  the  positions  for  which  there  were  students  available. 

A  canvass  in  the  schools  had  been  made  in  June,  so  the  approxi- 
mate number  of  part-time  students  were  known.  Because  there  were 
only  thirteen  students  registered  for  the  work  in  East  High  and  the 
same  number  registered  in  West  High  it  was  decided  that  one  teacher 
going  from  one  school  to  the  other  alternating  weeks  should  handle 
both  classes. 

As  the  business  man  had  been  told  the  plan  the  position  of  the 
school  was  at  this  point  much  like  that  of  an  employment  bureau. 
Here  were  the  specifications  and  requirements  of  an  existing  job  for 
which  the  school  attempted  to  pick  two  students  who  seemed  best 
suited  both  from  the  standpoint  of  education  and  personal  qualifica- 
tions to  handle  the  work.  Geographical  conditions  also  had  to  be 
considered,  as  the  students  came  from  two  high  schools.    The  student 

*  Adapted  from  a  statement  received  in  March,  1922,  from  S.  B. 
Carkin,  director  of  business  education,  Rochester,  N.Y. 


490  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

had  to  do  his  own  bargaining  and  finally  make  secure  his  own  position. 
The  school  simply  told  him  where  to  apply. 

Before  the  student  takes  up  his  duties  at  the  office  he  is  given  a 
sheet,  "Suggestions  to  Students,"  which  pictures  the  seriousness  of 
business,  as  well  as  giving  certain  detailed  suggestions.  Each  student 
on  his  return  to  school  is  required  to  have  ready  for  the  teacher  a 
detailed  weekly  account  of  his  business  experience.  This  form  shows 
the  kind  of  work  performed  each  day  and  the  amount  of  time  spent  on 
each  kind.  It  also  shows  the  total  hours  spent  on  each  type  of  work 
for  the  week.  This  weekly  work  report  is  transferred  to  a  permanent 
record  card  which  is  kept  on  file  to  determine  whether  or  not  the 
student  is  receiving  the  proper  variety  of  practice  training.  Since 
school  credit  is  given  for  business  experience  it  is  desirable  to  know 
the  progress  of  the  student  from  the  employer's  viewpoint.  The 
employer  is  asked  to  fill  out  monthly,  or  just  before  school  reports  are 
issued,  a  blank  report  form  which  is  considered  in  making  up  the 
monthly  grades  of  the  student.  The  report  of  the  employer  is  of  a 
general  nature  and  tends  to  show  whether  or  not  the  student  is  mak- 
ing progress  with  the  business  man.  Such  quahfications  as  industry, 
punctuality,  initiative,  courtesy,  and  neatness  appear  on  the  report. 
A  blank  space  is  left  after  each  qualification,  where  the  employer 
may  make  suggestions.  Some  very  interesting  and  helpful  sugges- 
tions have  been  made  by  the  business  man. 

One  feature  of  the  plan  which  is  entirely  different  from  that  of 
most  other  cities  is  that  the  teacher  of  the  class  (that  is  the  commercial 
teacher  who  has  the  regular  part-time  subjects)  does  the  work  of 
the  so-called  co-ordinator.  The  work  of  the  co-ordinator  is  ver>' 
important,  but  in  some  cities  where  it  has  been  made  a  special  work, 
separate  from  the  teaching,  much  criticism  has  arisen  concerning  the 
cost.  One  argument  in  favor  of  the  part-time  teacher  as  the  co-ordi- 
nator is  that  the  work  is  done  first  hand.  The  teacher  knows  the 
student  and  after  becoming  acquainted  with  the  co-operating  firms 
is  the  natural  medium,  or  go-between. 

Up  to  the  present  only  Seniors  in  the  commercial  course  have 
been  eligible  for  the  part-time  work.  An  attempt  has  been  made  to 
keep  this  plan  before  the  other  students  in  other  departments  as  a 
goal  toward  which  to  work.  This  does  not  mean  that  students  in  other 
departments  are  barred  from  part-time  work;  it  simply  means  that 
the  Senior  commercial  students  are  trained  for  such  office  positions  as 
this  plan  offers  and  they  are  therefore  chosen.    The  subjects  for  this 


CO-OPERATIVE  BUSINESS  COURSES  491 

course  are  not  necessarily  exactly  the  same  for  every  student.  The 
required  subjects  are  commercial  English  and  correspondence, 
advertising,  salesmanship  and  business  organization,  commercial  law, 
one  semester  and  economics  the  other,  and  American  history  with 
civics.  The  electives  are  reporting  principles,  advanced  bookkeeping, 
elocution  and  public  speaking. 

The  school  allows  thirty  credits  for  one  school  year  for  this  busi- 
ness experience.  This  is  equivalent  to  one  full  school  subject  and 
one-half.  Only  one-half  the  credits  allowed  full-time  subjects  are 
granted  part-time  subjects.  While  the  actual  school  attendance  is 
cut  in  half,  it  is  felt  that  because  of  the  quickened  conception  and 
interest  of  the  student  much  more  than  half  of  the  regular  subject- 
matter  is  generally  covered. 

OrnCE  WORK  co-operation  in  the  CINCINNATI  HIGH   SCHOOLS 

A  final  example  to  be  noticed  is  furnished  by  the  Cincinnati 
high  schools:^ 

This  course  is  designed  to  give  a  thorough  preparation  for  com- 
mercial work,  and  a  broad  general  training  in  academic  studies.  It 
prepares  directly  for  the  occupations  of  stenographer  and  typist, 
bookkeeper,  or  any  clerical  ofiice  position,  as  well  9.S  for  retail  selling 
and  commercial  advertising. 

The  subjects  required  are  English  (four  years),  a  foreign  language 
(two  years),  mathematics  (two  years),  history  (one  year),  civics 
(two  years),  and  the  technical  commercial  subjects  (four  years), 
including  bookkeeping,  penmanship  and  applied  art,  stenography 
and  typewriting  and  business  practice,  salesmanship  and  commercial 
advertising. 

During  the  second  half  of  the  fourth  year  students  may  be 
employed  during  the  afternoon  in  selected  business  houses. 

The  plan  as  carried  out,  in  the  main,  is  as  follows:  The  program 
of  studies  for  these  pupils  is  so  arranged  that  the  technical  studies, 
bookkeeping,  shorthand  and  salesmanship,  come  in  the  afternoon 
and  the  academic  studies  in  the  morning.  The  pupils  taking  part  in 
the  plan  are  permitted  to  leave  school  at  noon  and  report  at  the  place 
of  assignment  for  work.  The  pupil  thus  continues  for  a  two  week 
period,  then  another  pupil  is  assigned  to  take  his  place.    These  two 

*  From  statements  of  I.  R.  Garbutt  and  literature  of  the  Cincinnati 
schools. 


492  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

alternate  then  two  weeks  full  time  in  school  and  two  weeks  part  time 
in  an  office.  By  this  plan  the  pupils  can  do  the  full  amount  of  aca- 
demic work  required  and  at  the  same  time  gain  valuable  office  experi- 
ence. 

At  the  end  of  each  two  week  period  a  report  is  required  from  the 
employer  of  each  pupil  as  to  the  efficiency  of  the  work  performed 
during  that  period.  The  pupil  is  given  credit  for  this  report  on  the 
class  room  teacher's  record,  rating  Excellent  90  to  100,  Very  Good 
80  to  90,  Good  70  to  80.  The  employer  is  also  given  an  opportunity 
on  the  report,  to  offer  any  suggestions  that  would  better  prepare 
the  pupil  for  the  work  that  he  is  undertaking.  The  pupil  is  paid 
for  this  work  at  the  rate  of  seventy-five  cents  per  each  half  day 's 
service. 

The  plan  has  worked  out  fairly  satisfactorily,  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty being  to  place  the  pupils  where  they  will  get  the  kind  of  office 
practice  that  will  be  most  beneficial  to  them. 

Graduates  of  this  course  are  admitted  to  the  University  of  Cin- 
cinnati, provided  applicants  for  admission  to  the  College  of  Liberal 
Arts  offer  Mathematics  I  (Algebra)  and  Mathematics  II  (Plane 
Geometry)  and  three  years  of  foreign  language  (two  of  which  must 
be  in  one  language),  and  applicants  for  admission  to  the  College  of 
Engineering  and  Commerce  offer  Solid  Geometry. 

A  two-year  salesmanship  course,  co-operative  during  both  years, 
is  offered  for  students  who  have  completed  the  second  year  of  any  of 
the  other  courses.  This  course  is  intended  especially  to  prepare  for 
retail  mercantile  selling,  and  will  also  be  a  valuable  preparation  for 
other  lines  of  salesmanship.  The  leading  stores  of  the  city  have 
offered  their  assistance  in  this  course,  and  students  will  be  assigned 
to  work  in  these  stores  during  the  afternoons  and  on  Saturdays.  For 
this  work  they  will  be  paid  the  usual  wages  of  the  stores.  This  course 
does  not  prepare  for  college. 

OTHER  NECESSITIES   IN   SUCCESSFUL  CO-OPERATION 

The  lack  of  properly  trained  teachers  has  apparently  been 
a  handicap  to  co-operative  courses  especially  in  retail  selling. 
The  Prince  School  of  Salesmanship  was  for  some  time  practically 
the  only  source  from  which  such  trained  teachers  could  be  drawn. 
In  1 91 9,  however,  New  York  University  opened  a  school  to 
carry  on  this  work.    This  school  was,  at  least  in  its  inception. 


CO-OPERATIVE  BUSINESS  COURSES  493 

in  part  supported  by  contributions  of  merchants  who  were 
interested  in  co-operative  education. 

Proper  agreements  with  co-operating  business  houses  have 
already  been  stated  to  be  a  requisite  to  good  co-operative  work. 
Forms  used  for  agreements  and  reports  are  given  below.  The 
first  is  the  agreement  between  stores  and  school  department 
used  in  Boston.  The  second  set  of  forms  are  the  agreements 
and  reports  suggested  by  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational 
Education. 

AGREEMENT  RELATIVE   TO   SALESMANSHIP  COURSES' 

In  order  that  there  may  be  a  definite  and  understood  policy 
governing  the  relations  between  the  School  Department  of  the  City 
of  Boston  and  various  Boston  retail  stores,  interested  in  securing  as 
employees  students  enrolled  in  the  salesmanship  courses  of  the  high 
schools,  during  their  period  of  training  and  after  graduation,  the 
following  agreement  is  entered  into  between  the  interested  stores  and 
the  School  Department: 

(i)  An  advisory  committee,  representing  the  schools,  the  stores 
and  the  employees,  to  act  upon  any  question  arising  in  the  course  of 
administration  of  this  plan,  shall  be  immediately  appointed  upon  the 
approval  of  this  agreement.  The  representatives  of  the  stores  shall 
be  nominated  by  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Retail  Trade  Board, 
those  of  the  schools  by  the  School  Department,  and  those  of  the 
employees  by  the  members  of  the  conamittee  representing  the  stores 
and  the  schools.  This  committee  will  recommend  from  time  to  time 
such  changes  in  the  plan  of  operation  as  may  appear  advisable.  No 
change  shall  be  made  in  the  plan  of  operation  as  affecting  the  stores 
until  the  advisory  committee  has  notified  the  co-operating  stores, 
and  has  called  a  meeting  of  these  stores  to  discuss  the  proposed 
change  if  three  or  more  stores  believe  that  such  a  meeting  is 
necessary. 

(2)  It  is  agreed  that  the  stores  approving  this  plan  be  given 
preference  by  the  School  Department  in  the  assignment  of  services  of 
students  in  training. 

(3)  So  far  as  is  practical  students,  upon  entering  the  salesmanship 
courses,  shall  be  definitely  selected  and  engaged  by  the  co-operating 

»From  Louis  J.  Fish,  "Retail  Selling  in  the  Boston  High  Schools," 
Current  Affairs,  Boston  High  School,  1921. 


494  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

stores,  the  student  to  be  on  the  payroll  of  the  store  throughout  the 
traming  course,  subject  to  the  store  regulation,  during  days  of  employ- 
ment, and  subject  to  other  conditions  as  may  be  specified  in  the 
agreement.  Each  student  shall  be  sent  to  one  or  more  of  the  stores 
with  a  card  of  introduction  from  the  principal  of  the  school,  or 
from  the  School  Department.  The  apphcant  will  be  interviewed 
personally  by  the  supermtendent  or  head  of  the  employment  depart- 
ment. 

(4)  The  store  shall  furnish  the  School  Department  with  regular 
reports  as  to  the  attendance  and  quality  of  work  of  students  in  training 
while  in  their  employ.  The  students  shall  be  subject  to  the  same 
discipline  as  any  other  employee,  and  to  discharge  for  cause  on  the 
same  basis  as  any  other  employee,  but  it  is  understood  that  the 
School  Department  will  be  notified  in  the  case  of  discipline  or  suspen- 
sion, and  prior  to  discharge,  and  that  such  actions  may  be  considered 
by  the  advisory  committee  if  it  appears  that  they  violate  the  spirit  or 
mtention  of  this  approved  plan. 

(5)  During  the  present  year,  so  far  as  possible,  students  in  train- 
ing will  be  released  for  work  in  the  stores  on  Saturdays  and  on 
Mondays  from  12:00  o'clock  noon.  During  the  Christmas  season 
students  with  an  "A"  grade  will  be  released  for  three  weeks  prior  to 
Christmas;  those  with  a  "B  "  grade  for  two  weeks  prior  to  Christmas; 
those  with  a  "  C  "  grade  for  one  week  prior  to  Christmas  for  the  present 
year. 

(6)  The  rate  of  compensation  for  students  who  are  employed  in 
the  store  shall  be  $10  per  week  during  their  first  year  of  employment 
and  $12  per  week  during  their  second  year  of  employment. 

(7)  The  stores  agree  that  students  in  training  in  their  employ 
shall  be  routed  through  the  store,  having  training  in  the  various  lines 
of  store  work,  including  examining  and  cashiering,  marking  stock  and 
selling  work,  in  order  that  the  student  may  have  broad  training  and 
experience.  Each  co-operating  store  will  submit  a  plan  for  this  rout- 
ing for  the  approval  of  the  advisory  committee. 

(8)  At  the  end  of  the  course  the  student  in  training  shall  be  given 
special  consideration  for  regular  employment,  shall  be  credited  for 
purposes  of  pay  and  promotion  in  the  employing  store  with  one  year 's 
experience,  and  in  no  case  where  the  student  is  retained  as  a  regular 
employee  by  the  store  that  has  employed  the  student  durmg  the 
training  period  shall  the  pay  be  less  than  the  last  rate  paid  during 
training. 


CO-OPERATIVE  BUSINESS  COURSES  495 

(9)  It  is  understood  that  the  committee  representing  the  stores 
and  the  School  Department  shall  consider  immediately  the  problem 
of  undertaking  publicity  and  other  measures  necessary  to  interest  in 
the  salesmanship  courses  the  best  available  students. 

Name  of  Firm 

Signature 

Date 

FEDERAL   BOARD   FORMS 

The  following  agreement  and  report  forms  are  suggested  by 
the  Federal  Board  :^ 

CONTRACT  FOR  CO-OPERATIVE  WORK 

This  Agreement,  entered  into  this day  of ,  19. . .,  between ,  party  of  the 

first  part,  and party  of  the  second  part,  Provided  as  follows: 

t.  Party  of  the  first  part  agrees  to  employ 

(a)  Two  or  more  students  of  the high  school  on  a  co-operative  basis  beginning 

,  19... 

(b)  To  arrange  for  such  students  to  work  alternate  weeks. 

(c)  To  pay  a  salary  of  $ to  each  worker  for  the  weeks  actually  spent  in  the  office 

of  such  co-operating  firm. 

(d)  To  rotate  these  workers  in  the  various  occupations  of  the  office  or  store  so  as  to 
insure  an  all-around  experience. 

(c)  To  see  that  such  workers  are  given  the  usual  instruction  given  to  beginners  in  such 

work. 
(J)  To  make  a  report  on  each  such  worker  at  least  once  a  month  on  blanks  furnished  for 

the  purpose. 
(1)  To  refrain  from  oflFering  full-time  employment  to  such  workers  before  the  expiration 

of  the  period  covered  by  this  agreement  without  the  consent  of  the  party  of  the 

second  part. 
(A)  To  retain  on  a  full-time  basis  one  or  both  of  such  workers  at  the  expiration  of  the 

period  covered  by  this  agreement,  providing  mutually  satisfactory  arrangements  can 

be  made  by  the  parties  concerned, 
(i)   To  attend  occasional  conferences  as  required  for  the  discussion  of  important  matters 

connected  with  co-operative  educational  work. 

2.  Party  of  the  second  part  agrees 

(o)  To  consider  the  needs  of  the  party  of  the  first  part  in  making  assignments  of  students 

under  this  contract. 
\b)  To  co-operate  in  every  way  with  the  party  of  the  first  part  to  make  this  co-operative 

plan  mutually  advantageous, 
(c)  To  plan  the  courses  pursued  by  such  workers  so  as  to  aid  them  in  the  performance 

of  their  tasks  from  week  to  week. 
{d)  To  replace  such  workers  with  others  when  it  seems  best  for  all  parties  concerned 

providing  additional  student  workers  are  available, 
(c)  To  attend  conferences  as  required. 

(Signed) 

Representative  of  the  Company 

(Signed) 

Co-ordinator  or  Instructor 

» Adapted  from  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education,  Bidletin 
No.  24,  PP-  65-66,     Commercial  Series  No.  3. 


496  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

EMPLOYER'S  REPORT  ON  CO-OPERATION  OF  STUDENTS 


Name  of  student Month  ending. 

Name  of  firm 

By 


If  the  student  is  above  the  average  in  any  of  the  follow 
ing,  kindly  note  by  using  such   terms  as,   "Good"  or| 
"Excellent." 

If  the  student  is  deficient,  make  a  corresponding  nota- 
tion, in  order  that  steps  may  be  taken  to  remedy  the 
trouble,  if  possible. 

Industry 

Punctuality 

Initiative 

Judgment 

Neatness 

Thoughtfulness 

Courtesy 

Honesty 

Other  qualities 


Suggestions  for  benefit  of 
students: 


Remarks: 


STUDENT'S  REPORT 


Remarks  on  back. 

PROGRESS  AND  EXPERIENCE  RECORD 


Reoort  for  week  ending 

iQig. 

Employed  by ....           .           .    . 

Dept 

Days  absent  from  work  (give  dates  and  cause) : 

Kind  of  work  and  amount  of  time  devoted  to  each. 

Kinds  of  work 

Mon. 

Tues. 

Wed. 

Thur. 

Fri. 

Sat. 

Total 

Summary  of  work — Co-operative  plant 
Name  of  student .                                                                 From 

,   IQI — 

Employed  by                                                                   .     To 

IQI 

1 

Kind  of  work 

(The  student's  school  record  should  be  given  on  the  reverse  side  of  this  card.) 


CO-OPERATIVE  BUSINESS  COURSES  497 

NOTICE  OF  ASSIGNMENT  TO  CO-OPERATIVE  POSITION 


To. 


You  have  been  assigned  to 


for  part-time  work,  in  lieu  of  school  work,  alternate  weeks,  for  the  term  beginning 

Please  report  to at  the  above  address  on  Monday  morning iQig. 

at  —  o'clock. 

The  salary  agreed  upon  is  $ a  week  for  the  weeks  you  are  actually  employed. 

The  undersigned  will  co-operate  with  you  to  the  end  that  your  new  work  may  be  both 
pleasant  and  profitable. 


Co-ordinator  or  Instructor 

Perhaps  more  important  than  any  other  matter  m  successful 
co-operative  undertakings  is  the  work  of  the  co-ordinator.  It  is 
the  co-ordinator,  as  the  term  impUes,  who  is  finally  responsible 
for  what  a  course  in  co-operative  education  accomplishes.  The 
first  burden  of  making  the  courses,  as  well  as  the  constant 
administration  of  the  many  difficult  situations  which  arise,  is 
likely  to  fall  upon  the  co-ordinator.  Miss  Ellen  L.  Osgood,  of 
the  Haaren  High  School,  who  has  met  this  difficult  task  with 
exceptional  success,  outlines  the  duties  of  the  co-ordinator  in 
the  following  way:^ 

1.  Collect  and  organize  teaching  material  necessary  in  new  fields 
of  education. 

2.  Bring  to  the  school  criticisms  which  come  to  us  in  connection 
with  the  performance  of  our  pupils  in  business  houses. 

3.  Interest  business  men  in  our  proposition,  make  arrangements 
for  the  employment  of  our  young  people,  select  the  boys  and  girls  and 
send  them  out  (this  includes  looking  after  working  papers,  keeping 
records,  etc.),  and  after  the  young  people  are  placed,  following  them 
up  by  observing  them  at  work  where  possible,  interviewing  them  in 
school  and  obtaining  reports,  both  formal  and  informal,  on  their  work. 
Out  of  these  reports  grows  material  for  classroom  work  and  subjects 
for  personal  interview. 

4.  Each  co-ordinator  teaches  one  class  a  day. 

» From  a  statement  prepared  by  Miss  Osgood  in  April,  1922. 


49^  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

5.  Co-ordinators  should  obtain  much  informative  and  valuable 
experience  in  fitting  pupils  with  jobs  which  would  enable  them  to  do 
valuable  vocational  guidance  work.  It  should  also  be  possible  for  a 
co-ordinator  to  render  his  school  a  great  service  by  collecting  voca- 
tional guidance  material  and  puttmg  it  at  the  service  of  the  entire 
school. 

The  co-operative  plan  appears  to  be  one  of  the  most  interest- 
uig  of  the  newer  developments  in  education  for  business.  It 
offers  an  obvious  opportunity  for  making  an  application  of  school 
theory  and  for  learning  in  an  actual  commercial  laboratory.  It 
seems  that  where  persons  have  fairly  clearly  settled  upon  their 
vocations,  or  at  least  upon  the  vocations  with  which  they  intend 
to  ally  themselves  for  some  time  after  leaving  school,  the  co- 
operative plan  is  invaluable.  Imagine,  for  example,  a  student 
who  is  interested  in  selling.  Careful  students  of  salesmanship 
are  increasingly  inclined  to  the  belief,  which  was  so  well  brought 
out  in  the  surveys  (pages  198  to  201),  that  the  most  sub- 
stantial factor  in  salesmanship  is  knowledge  of  the  goods. 
Since  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  goods  especially  in  their 
commercial  aspects  and  varieties  can  most  economically  be 
obtained  by  using  a  store  as  a  laboratory,  the  co-operative 
scheme  of  training  furnishes  an  economical  method  of  procedure. 
On  the  other  hand  it  seems  quite  possible  that  the  co-operative 
idea  may  very  easily  be  overdone.  There  may  well  be  some 
doubt  if  students  should  be  put  into  co-operative  courses 
which  train  for  so  technical  an  undertaking  as  retail  selling  until 
the  last  six  months  or  last  year  of  then:  high-school  course. 
(This  statement  of  course  need  not  apply  to  students  who  are 
certain  they  will  not  be  in  school  beyond  the  first  or  second 
year.)  It  will  be  answered  that  it  is  impossible  to  teach  young 
people  all  they  should  know  about  retail  selling  in  one  year.  It 
seems  quite  likely,  however,  that  if  the  first  three  years  of  a 
student's  course  have  been  properly  used  to  give  an  understand- 
ing of  business  relationships  and  general  business  organization, 
with  a  proper  study  of  accountmg  as  an  agency  of  control,  that 
the  specific  application  of  this  knowledge  to  retail  selling  or  any 
other  business  will  not  be  a  matter  requiring  a  great  amount  of 


CO-OPERATIVE  BUSINESS  COURSES  499 

time.  It  will  also  be  asserted  that  the  student  who  is  interested 
in  retail  selling  cannot  leam  enough  of  all  products  in  one  year. 
This  is  true,  and  it  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  the  course  should 
be  short.  A  student  should  not  take  time  in  school  to  learn 
enough  of  all  products  to  be  a  salesman  of  all  products.  The 
most  the  high  school  should  undertake  should  be  to  give  him  a 
background  on  which  he  can  build  more  specific  knowledge  as 
he  needs  it,  with  perhaps  specific  knowledge  enough  of  cerfeain 
products,  say  furniture,  or  textiles,  or  books,  or  jewelry,  to  secure 
a  position.  The  waste  of  giving  a  large  group  of  people  enough 
knowledge  of  all  products  to  sell  all  of  them  well  seems  almost 
axiomatic. 

A  similar  viewpoint  is  sound  for  co-operative  office-work 
courses.  An  office  is  not  a  place  to  teach  principles.  It  is  a 
place  to  teach  the  application  of  principles  to  a  particular  office 
practice.  The  co-operative  method,  therefore,  in  office  work 
should  come  late  when  the  pupil  is  almost  ready  to  take  a  job 
and  should  be  used  to  make  easy  the  connection  between  his 
underlying  training  and  this  job. 

The  proposal  to  place  co-operative  work  late  in  the  course 
neglects  co-operation  as  a  means  of  financing  an  education. 
But  that  consideration  is  outside  this  discussion.  We  are  con- 
cerned here  with  educational  plans  only.  The  extent  to  which 
individuals  should  be  publicly  aided  in  securing  education 
is  no  doubt  an  important  matter.  The  extent  to  which  the 
regular  school  should  be  organized  to  permit  students  to  earn 
a  living  while  in  school,  or  the  age  at  which  pupils  should 
be  permitted  to  drop  school  in  whole  or  in  part  (as  is  the  case 
where  the  co-operative  method  is  used  to  give  the  pupils  a 
chance  to  earn)  are  important  matters.  But  all  of  these  matters 
are  distinct  from  how  best  to  arrange  courses  for  educational 
purposes.  They  lie  in  the  field  of  political  science  and  legislation 
as  related  to  education,  not  in  the  field  of  curriculum  making. 

The  proper  place  of  a  high-school  commercial  co-operative 
course  appears  to  be  as  an  extension  of  a  broad,  basic,  general 
course  in  business  administration.  It's  only  other  proper  role 
can  perhaps  be  played  as  a  special  one-  or  two-year  course  for 


500  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

students  who  know  definitely  that  they  will  be  in  school  only  for 
a  short  period  of  time.  And  in  such  an  instance  it  is  after  all 
only  a  superstructure  of  technical  work  built  on  an  assumption 
of  general  training  and  built  unfortunately  soon. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  The  terms  continuation  school  and  part-time  school  are,  in  most 
literature,  used  practically  synonymously.  How  would  you  dis- 
tinguish the  co-operative  course  from  the  contmuation  school? 
What  is  the  general  philosophy  behmd  such  a  plan  as  the  co-opera- 
tive course  ? 

2.  "Three  clearly  distinguishable  plans  are  used  m  co-operative 
business  courses."  Distinguish  carefully  between  these  three. 
What  advantage  and  disadvantage  do  you  see  in  each  of  these  ? 
What  matters  of  organization  are  essential  for  satisfactory 
co-operative  commercial  work  ? 

3.  Examine  the  co-operative  course  in  retail  selling  as  given  in  the 
Boston  high  schools.  Consider  whether  this  course  covers  the 
proper  material  for  the  technique  of  retail-sales  work.  Should  a 
retail-sales  person  be  taught  subjects  which  are  not  included  in 
this  course  ?  Should  such  a  co-operative  retail-sales  course  cover 
the  last  year,  last  two  years,  or  more  of  the  students '  four  years 
in  high  school  ? 

4.  What  matters  concerning  salesmanship  can  be  taught  best 
through  the  actual  selling  process  ?  What  ones  can  better  be 
taught  without  direct  relation  to  the  selling  process  ? 

5.  Examine  the  co-operative  selling  courses  of  the  Haaren  High 
School.  In  connection  with  the  outline  of  these  courses  consider 
the  questions  asked  concerning  the  Boston  course. 

6.  In  Haaren  considerable  efifort  is  made  to  specialize  the  courses. 
Is  ** Textiles"  too  broad  a  subject  for  a  specialized  course? 

7.  Contrast  and  compare  the  Boston,  Haaren,  and  Rochester  courses. 
What  differences  and  similarities  do  you  observe?  What  are 
the  important  matters  in  the  organization  of  such  a  course  ? 

8.  Examine  the  plan  of  the  co-operative  office-work  course  in  the 
Cincinnati  high  school.  Does  such  a  course  raise  issues  not 
involved  in  the  planning  of  a  co-operative  retail-selling  course? 

9.  Go  over  the  forms  presented  for  use  in  co-operative  work.  Indi- 
cate where  changes,  if  any,  would  need  to  be  made  in  such  forms 
if  they  were  to  be  used  in  any  school  with  which  you  are  familiar. 


CO-OPERATIVE  BUSINESS  COURSES  501 

10.  What  is  the  co-ordinator  ?  What  duties  should  the  co-ordinator 
assume  ? 

11.  ''The  co-operative  idea  may  easily  be  overdone."  How,  for 
example  ? 

12.  "Practice  not  principle  can  be  taught  in  the  office  or  shop.  The 
co-operative  course,  therefore,  is  of  value  only  when  a  large  part 
of  the  training  should  be  in  practice."  Would  you  agree  or 
disagree  ? 

13.  Draw  up  a  statement  or  series  of  statements  that  seem  to  you  to 
express  the  proper  place  or  r61e  of  co-operative  courses  in  the  plan 
scheme  of  business  education. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

EVENING-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSES 

While  our  chief  interest  in  this  study  centers  in  the  high- 
school  evening  courses  in  business  work,  it  is  necessary  to  an 
appreciation  of  that  work  to  see  something  of  the  growth  and 
significance  of  the  evening-school  movement,  especially  as  it 
has  been  taken  over  by  the  public  schools.  The  evening  school 
in  the  United  States  is  an  old  institution.  The  free  public 
evening  school  is  a  much  more  recent  undertaking.  Still  more 
recent  is  the  extensive  use  of  evening  schools  in  business  training. 

The  history  of  evening  schools  seems  to  fall  roughly  into 
three  periods:^  The  earliest  schools  were  private  schools  kept 
in  the  evening  for  pay.  These  early  schools  did  not  have  a  very 
large  number  of  students,  and  they  must  not  be  compared  with 
the  private  evening  school  of  today  which  is  ordinarily  concerned 
with  the  presentation  of  technical  courses.  (Some  considera- 
tion of  these  has  been  given  in  Chapters  XII  and  XIV.)  These 
early  evening  schools  did,  however,  furnish  an  opportunity,  to 
persons  not  otherwise  provided  for,  to  secure  an  elementary  edu- 
cation. They  familiarized  people  with  the  idea  of  evening  study 
and  attracted  attention  to  the  fact  that  many  who  were  at  work 
needed  and  desired  more  education. 

A  second  phase  of  evening  school  work  was  that  developed 
by  benevolent  societies  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor.  From  1820 
to  1840  or  1850  such  schools  were  not  uncommon.  Some  exam- 
ples were  schools  for  slaves. 

The  third  phase  of  evening-school  work  and  the  one  in 
which  we  are  most  interested  is  represented  by  the  free  pubUc 
evening  schools  established  by  the  school  authorities.  Such 
schools  were  opened  as  early  as  168 1,  when  one  was  established  in 

'  An  extended  study  of  the  history  of  evening  schools  is  to  be  found  in 
Arthur  J.  Jones,  The  Continuation  School  in  the  United  States,  pp.  83-94. 
U.S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  i,  1907,  whole  No.  367. 

502 


EVENING-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  503 

New  York  state.  Numerous  cities,  however,  are  claimants  for 
the  distinction  of  having  established  the  first  night  school  in 
the  United  States.  Most  of  these  present  the  early  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century  as  the  time  of  origin  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
appears  to  have  organized  such  a  school  in  1834  and  Cincinnati 
in  1840.  In  1856  in  Cincinnati  there  was  opened  what  is 
probably  the  first  free  evening  high  school  supported  entirely 
by  public  funds.  In  1866  such  a  free  publicly  supported  high 
school  was  opened  in  New  York  City.  This  was  the  first 
public  high  school  of  any  kind  in  New  York  City,  the  day  high 
schools  not  being  established  until  some  years  later. 

Although  the  development  of  free  public  education  offered 
in  evening  courses  was  much  more  tardy  than  was  general 
public  education,  nevertheless,  with  the  coming  of  the  twentieth 
century,  its  extension  was  very  rapid.  The  following  comment 
of  an  educational  journal  in  19 14  gives  some  impression  of  the 
rapidity  in  growth  of  this  movement:^ 

The  press  is  filled  with  announcements  of  the  tremendous  sweep 
over  the  whole  country  of  the  night-school-  idea.  The  figures  of 
attendance  are  almost  incredible.  Richmond,  Virginia,  enrols  4,000 
students  in  11  schools;  Chicago  has  35  schools  with  more  than  25,000 
attendance;  St.  Louis  has  20,000  pupils  in  22  schools;  Milwaukee, 
6,000  in  13  schools;  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  4,000  students;  Kansas 
City,  3,000;  Minneapolis,  7,000;  and  hundreds  of  smaller  cities 
report  that  their  night-school  facilities  are  taxed  to  the  utmost. 
Every  city  reports  a  rapid  increase  in  attendance,  the  figures  from 
St.  Louis  being  typical  of  the  general  50  per  cent  increase:  in  191 2 
there  were  9,700  students  in  St.  Louis  night  schools;  in  1914,  20,000. 
Chicago  has  8,000  more  at  the  opening  of  the  year  than  the  total 
enrolment  for  last  year.  Three  years  ago,  Richmond  began  with 
43  pupils  and  two  teachers;  in  six  months  there  were  800  pupils  and 
18  teachers.  The  school  grew  only  about  100  the  second  year,  but 
during  the  third  year  a  system  of  co-operation  between  school  and 
employers  increased  the  attendance  to  4,000. 

The  students  who  are  thus  attracted  range  in  age  from  fourteen 
to  sixty-five.    There  is  no  upper  limit.    By  far  the  largest  percentage 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  Editorial  Comment  in  School  Review, 
XXII  (December,  1914),  700-701. 


504  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

are  comparatively  young  men  and  women,  roughly  classified  in  three 
great  groups:  those  who  feel  that  they  are  handicapped  by  inadequate 
general  education;  foreigners  who  desire  a  command  of  English; 
and  workers  who  wish  to  become  more  skilled  in  their  occupations. 
The  following  data,  collected  from  ten  cities  in  Wisconsin,  exclusive 
of  Milwaukee,  indicate  pretty  fairly  the  general  distribution  of  night- 
school  students: 

Men,  6,887;  women,  7,389;  total  number  enrolled,  14,276; 
those  leaving,  3,030;  withdrawals,  443;  returned  to  regular  school, 
17;  enrolment  at  close  of  school,  6,791;  average  weekly  attendance, 
6,712.  Enrolment  by  employment:  bookkeepers,  336;  stenog- 
raphers, 379;  laborers,  637;  students,  208;  housekeepers,  769; 
store  clerks,  940;  at  home,  518;  clerical  work,  275;  machinists, 
469;  carpenters,  124;  factory  workers,  1,796;  electricians,  79; 
printers,  63;  laundry  workers,  s:^;  helpers,  49;  dressmakers,  127; 
telephone  operators,  200;  tailors,  17;  milliners,  54;  teamsters,  17; 
messengers,  14;  plumbers  and  steam  fitters,  11;  candy-factory 
workers,  10;  draftsmen,  121;  molders,  49;  painters,  35;  blacksmiths, 
27;  cabinet-makers,  16;  plasterers,  i;  teachers,  290;  pattern-makers, 
18;  waitresses,  426;  librarians,  5;  salesmen  and  women,  51;  railroad 
employees,  29;  delivery  boys,  13;  tinsmiths,  9;  erectors,  13;  type- 
setters, 3;  storekeepers  and  business  men,  197;  domestics,  273; 
wood  workers,  45;  bakers,  9;  rubber  workers,  20;  tanners,  41; 
farmers,  1 1 ;  limibermen,  31;  nurses,  10;  mechanics,  722;  miscel- 
laneous, 3,365;  number  of  teachers,  328. 

Perhaps  in  no  better  way  than  in  the  compilation  of  statistics 
can  the  present  extent  of  public  evening-school  work  be  given. 
Table  LVII,  on  page  505,  though  not  all-inclusive,  gives  a  fairly 
satisfactory  presentation  of  the  present  enrolment  and  personnel 
in  public  night  schools. 

Just  what  evening-school  enrolment  means  in  one  state  is 
made  clear  in  the  quotation  which  follows.  It  is  worth  while  to 
notice  Mr.  Fitzpatrick's  statement  that  the  evening  school  is 
almost  the  sole  educational  device  for  training  the  adult.  In 
this  respect  evening  schools  differ  from  any  other  type  of  school 
considered,  and  this  fact  has  an  important  bearing  on  the  forms 
of  work  which  they  should  offer. 

The  school  is  now  serving  the  adult  population  largely  through 
its  evening  classes.    Adjustments  are  made  in  the  day  school  for 


EVENING-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSES 


505 


certain  adults  but  this  is  largely  an  incidental  service  and  affects 
comparatively  few  people.  The  extent  and  character  of  the  service 
now  rendered  in  the  evening  classes  of  the  continuation  school  is 
shown  in  detail  in  the  table  on  page  506. 

An  examination  of  this  table  indicates  that  the  work  of  the 
evening  school  is  largely  given  over  to  trade  extension  and  trade 
preparatory  work.    The  academic  work  given  is  apparently  largely 

TABLE  LVII^ 
Current  Enrolment  and  Personnel  in  Public  Night  Schools 


\ 

Group  I 

Group  II 

Group  III 

Group  IV 

Group  V 

Cities  of 

Cities  of 

Cities  of 

Cities  of 

Cities  of 

Preceding 

100,000 

30,000  to 

10,000  to 

5,000  to 

2,500  to 

Groups 

Popula- 

100,000 

30,000 

10,000 

5,000 

Combined 

tion  and 

Popula- 

Popula- 

Popula- 

Popula- 

Over 

tion 

tion 

tion 

tion 

Number   of   school 



systems  report- 

ing      night 

schools 

49 

108 

181 

ii8 

62 

518 

Teachers: 

Elementary 

schools 

4,232 

1,651 

835 

315 

100 

7,133 

Secondary  schools 

4,288 

1,082 

633 

171 

46 

6,220 

Vocationalschools 

1,083 

508 

543 

171 

43 

2,348 

Other  schools 

142 

107 

89 

25 

13 

376 

Not  distributed. . 

495 
4,957 

7 
1,469 

503 

Total  men 

926 

284" 

85" 

7,721 

Total  women 

5,283 

1,886 

1,174 

398 

117 

8,858 

Enrolment: 

Elementary 

schools 

146,379 

44,087 

19,974 

5,585 

1,883 

217,908 

Secondary  schools 

201,717 

36,919 

19,663 

4,053 

1,031 

263,383 

Vocationalschools 

41,276 

16,726 

12,527 

2,893 

672 

74,094 

Other  schools 

3,892 

3,265 

2,029 

500 

237 

9,923 

Not  distributed. . 

19,892 
227,681 

213 
54,105 

20,105 

Total  boys 

27,702' 

■■■6;82;' 

1,922 

318,234 

Total  girls 

185,475 

47.105 

26,491 

6,207 

1,901 

267,179 

intended  for  foreigners  and  for  persons  with  very  rudimentary  educa- 
tional training.  These  courses  do  not  reveal  any  satisfaction  of  the 
general  intellectual  interests  which  must  exist  in  the  community. 
The  civic  interests  are,  also,  not  met.  In  a  period  when  the  women 
have  been  completely  enfranchised  it  would  seem  that  there  should 
be  in  the  vocational  school  evening  classes  immediate  response  to 
this  opportunity  for  service.^ 

^  Adapted  by  permission  from  Statistics  of  City  School  Systems,  p.  9. 
U.S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  24,  19 19. 

*  The  statement  is  adapted  by  permission  from  Edward  A.  Fitzpatrick, 
"Adult  Education,"  Wisconsin's  Educational  Horizon,  Vol.  IV,  No.  2,  Part 
2,  pp.  9-10.    State  Board  of  Education,  Madison,  Wis.,  December,  192 1. 


5o6 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


TABLE  LVIII 
Scope  of  Work  in  Wisconsin  Evening  Schools 


Subject 


Academic 
General — common      branches      course, 

reading,  spelling 

Citizenship 

Civil  service 

Income  tax 

Language 

English 

General 

Factory 

Foreigners 

French 

Spanish 

Mathematics  (does  not  specify) 

Algebra 

Arithmetic 

Business  arithmetic 

Shop  mathematics 

Trigonometry 

Penmanship 

Physiology 

Spelling  and  penmanship 

Science 

Chemistry 

See  also  under  Trade  and  Technical : 
Paper  chemistry  and  pharmacy 

Social  law 

Commercial 

General  (not  described) • 

Accounting 

Bookkeeping 

Business  English 

Commercial  law 

Shorthand 

Typewriting 

Art 

Applied  art 

Architecture 

Arts  and  crafts 

China  painting 

Drawings 

House  decoration 

Interior  decoration 

Needle  art 

Home  Economics 

Cooking 

Dietetics 

Drafting  patterns 

Home  nursing 


No.  of 
Schools 

Men 

Women 

lO 

158 

lOI 

17 

723 

90 

2 

120 

55 

2 

47 

2 

18 

844 

321 

I 

28 

28 

15 

798 

250 

10 

45 

124 

5 

78 

81 

6 

77 

26 

2 

22 

8 

103 

41 

2 

40 

8 

10 

161 

I 

8 

8 

69 

84 

I 

27 

I 
3 

38 

7 

I 

I 

32 

8 

107 

381 

6 

112 

71 

31 

566 

675 

8 

121 

126 

2 

31 

7 

31 

274 

1,948 

28 

527 

2,091 

I 

68 

2 

137 

I 

3 

I 

68 

2 

38 

7 

136 

18 

5 

12 

127 

I 

II 

I 

102 

28 

3 

932 

2 

I 

62 
10 

6 

87 

EVENING-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSES 
TABLE  LWIII— Continued 


507 


Subject 


Home  Economics 

House  decoration 

Knitting 

Lace  making 

Sewing 

Related  Trade 

Blue  print  reading 

Mechanical  drawing 

Slide  rule 

Trade  and  Technical 

Auto  mechanics 

Cabinet  making 

Carding 

Concrete 

Drafting 

Electricity 

Engineering  principles 

Estimating 

Forging 

Freight  trafl&c 

Gas  engine 

Heat  treatment 

Heating  and  ventilation 

Machine  shop 

Massage 

Millinery 

Paper  chemistry 

Pattern  making 

Pharmacy 

Printing 

Salesmanship 

Sheet  metal 

Shop  (does  not  specify  what) 

Show  card  writing » . . . 

Steam  engine 

Telegraphy 

Trade  analysis 

Welding 

Woodwork 

General 

Carpentry 

Cedar  chests 

Manual  training 

Roof  framing 

Miscellaneous 

First  aid 

Gymnasium  and  physical  education. 
Music 


No.  of 
Schools 


4 
I 

I 
35 

3 

25 
I 

17 
8 

I 
I 
6 

9 

I 
I 

3 

I 
6 
I 
I 
17 


Men 


13 


79 

990 

16 

1,120 
258 


17 

160 

320 

61 

21 

116 

93 

294 

33 

15 

679 


68 

18 

2 

78 


116 

37 


Women 


Total 


94 

74 

47 

3,179 


I 
I 

48 

34 

3 


26 
936 


5 
124 


23 

70 

III 


107 

74 

47 

3,179 

79 
991 

17 

1,168 

31S 

3 

17 

161 

320 

61 

21 

116 

97 
296 

33 
15 

679 
26 

936 
18 
48 
33 
29 
43 
25 
63 
46 
92 

218 

8 

20 

91 
18 

14 

106 

12 

23 
199 

173 


5o8 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


A  study  of  general  figures,  however,  is  likely  to  be  very  mis- 
leading. We  are  apt  to  gain  the  impression  that  the  night 
school  is  a  far  more  extensively  used  tool  than  is  the  case.    It 


TABLE  LIX 

Estimated  Numbers  Not  Attending  School 


Age 


14  years .  . 

15  years.  . 

16  years.  . 

1 7  years .  . 

18  years.  . 

19  years.  . 

20  years .  . 

Total 


Estimated  Numbers  Who  Have  Not 
Attended  School  in  191 7-18 


Total 


370,000 
620,000 
1,040,000 
1,360,000 
1,630,000 
I , 800 , 000 
1,920,000 


8,740,000 


Male 


190,000 
320,000 
530,000 
690 , 000 
820,000 
890,000 
950,000 


Female 


4,390,000 


180,000 
300,000 
510,000 
670,000 
810,000 
910,000 
970,000 


4,350,000 


TABLE  LX 

A  Comparison  of  Those  Not  in  School  and  Those  Gainfully 
Employed 


Age  and  Sex 

Estimated  Number  in  1918 

Gainfully  Employed 

Not  in  School 

Both  sexes 

14  to  20  years    

7,130,000 
1,210,000 
5,920,000 

4,640,000 

820,000 

3,820,000 

2,490,000 

390,000 

2,100,000 

8,740,000 

990,000 

7,750,000 

4,390,000 

510,000 

3,880,000 

4,350,000 

480,000 

3,870,000 

14  and  15  years 

16  to  20  years 

Boys 

14  to  20  years 

14.  and  I  ^  years 

16  to  20  years 

Girls 

14  to  20  years      

14  and  15  years       

16  to  20  years 

has  grown  with  rapidity,  but  the  number  of  persons,  even  young 
persons  to  whom  it  could  be  usefully  applied,  is  so  vast  that 
certainly  not  more  than  a  tenth  are  reached.  Dr.  John  Cum- 
mings  has  made  the  estimates  shown  above  concerning  the 


EVENING-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSES 


509 


possible  opportunity  for  evening  schools  and  continuation 
schools.'  He  shows  that  between  "eight  and  nine  million  boys 
and  girls  in  the  ages  fourteen  to  twenty  years  have  not  attended 
any  sort  of  school,  public  or  private,  day  or  evening, "  during  the 
school  year  191 7-18. 

Even  more  definite  evidence  on  the  limited  reach  of  the 
evening  school  was  furnished  by  the  study  of  the  New  York 
Military  Training  Commission:^ 

The  night-school  enrolment  of  boys  of  these  ages  [sixteen,  seven- 
teen, and  eighteen  years]  varies  from  10  per  cent  in  Greater  New 
York  to  less  than  5  per  cent  in  the  smaller  cities  and  villages.    Night 


TABLE  LXI 

Night  School  Summary  for  New  York  State 

(Sixteen-,  Seventeen-,  and  Eighteen- Year-Old 

Employed  Boys) 


Groups 


Attendance  in  Percentage 


Attends 


Would 
Attend 


Would  Not 
Attend 


Total 
Percent- 

AG  E 


Greater  New  York. 
Cities  over  25,000. 
Cities  under  25,000 
Villages  over  5,000. 
Places  under  5,000. 


10. o 

10.2 

4.4 

30 

i.o 


30.6 

21-5 

23 -5 
37-5 
53-5 


59-4 
'"3 


lOO.O 

100. o 
100.  o 
100. o 
100. o 


schools,  however,  are  not  maintained  in  all  the  smaller  cities  and 
villages,  which  lowers  the  record  for  these  groups.  Where  night 
schools  are  maintained  between  20  and  30  per  cent  of  the  boys 
expressed  a  desire  to  attend.  These  desires  were  probably  not  very 
strong  in  most  cases  and  it  is  quite  likely  were  expressed  in  some 
instances  to  make  a  favorable  impression  on  the  teacher  recording 
the  answers.  In  general  night  schools  are  attended  largely  by  men 
and  older  boys.    Over  60  per  cent  do  not  wish  to  attend  night  school. 

» Adapted  from  an  article  in  the  Vocational  Education  Summary  of 
September,  19 18. 

'  Adapted  by  permission  from  Howard  G.  Burdge,  A  Study  of  Employed 
Boys,  pp.  181-83.  State  of  New  York  Military  Training  Commission, 
Bureau  of  Vocational  Training,  192 1. 


5IO  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Although  these  answers  were  recorded  by  teachers  to  whom  boys 
might  be  expected  to  give  as  favorable  an  answer  as  possible  to  this 
question,  yet  the  majority  of  these  boys  were  frank  to  state  that  they 
had  no  desire  to  attend  night  school.  Personal  interviews  with  some 
ten  thousand  of  these  boys  made  by  the  inspectors  of  the  bureau 
making  this  survey  disclosed  this  same  attitude  on  the  part  of  these 
boys  toward  any  form  of  schooling  which  calls  them  back  to  school- 
houses,  school  books  and  school  shops.  Boys  of  these  ages  seem  to 
have  a  feehng  that  schools  are  for  "kids"  while  they  are  "men"  and 
too  old  for  such  things.  Until  they  experience  a  desire  for  further 
schooling,  which  a  wise  counselor  might  awaken,  additional  schooling 
will  have  to  be  compulsory  and  can  well  be  likened  to  "forced 
feeding." .... 

That  there  is  a  definite  need  for  short  unit  courses  was  brought  to 
light  by  the  personal  interviews  with  thousands  of  these  boys  made 
by  the  inspectors  of  this  bureau  in  the  course  of  the  survey.  Long, 
indefinite  courses  in  arithmetic,  mechanical  drawing,  auto  mechanics 
and  kindred  subjects  do  not  appeal  to  boys  or  for  that  matter  to  many 
men.  A  short  course  successfully  covered  is  a  great  incentive  to 
further  effort,  which  cannot  be  said  of  long-drawn-out,  indefinite 
courses  in  night  schools  or  part-time  schools. 

The  outstanding  fact  in  regard  to  night-school  attendance  of 
boys  of  these  ages  is  that  the  majority  of  them  have  no  desire  for 
further  schooling.  It  is  possible  to  create  a  desire  for  further  school- 
ing through  proper  guidance  and  counsel  and  the  offering  of  popular 
short  courses 

EXAMPLES  OF  EVENING  SCHOOLS 

The  general  plan  of  organization  for  public  evening  schools 
to  secure  the  best  possible  results  is  not  a  wholly  easy  thing  to 
devise.  There  are  many  diflSculties  in  the  way  of  successful 
night-school  administration,  and  there  are  probably  few  fields 
in  which  public  money  can  more  easily  be  spent  wastefully. 
There  follow  here  a  number  of  illustrations  of  evening  schools 
in  cities  which  have  been  working  with  the  problem  for  some 
time.  The  results  of  their  experience  should  be  useful  to  any- 
one who  is  interested  in  a  knowledge  of  how  such  schools 
are  operated,  or  who  may  desire  to  organize  or  improve  the 
organization  of  some  school  with  which  he  is  connected. 


EVENING-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  511 

ST.   LOUIS  EVENING   SCHOOLS* 

Organization. — Evening  school  and  extension  courses  are  offered 
to  persons  whose  employment  prevents  their  attendance  upon  the 
regular  day-school  classes.  The  organization  of  such  classes  seeks 
to  provide  opportunity  for  school  instruction  at  hours  other  than 
those  of  actual  employment.  The  name  "evening  school"  is  used 
as  a  generic  term,  descriptive  of  the  kind  of  school  rather  than 
the  time  of  day  when  the  classes  are  in  session.  Persons  working 
in  night  shifts  may  be  taught  in  classes  held  in  the  morning  or  after- 
noon. 

The  evening-school  year  is  divided  into  three  terms  as  follows: 

First  term:  Registration  nights,  September  13,  14,  15,  and  16 
at  all  pubhc  high  schools. 

Registration :  September  13  and  1 5  at  elementary  schools,  continu- 
ing for  thirteen  weeks,  closing  December  15. 

Second  term:  Beginning  Monday,  January  3,  1922,  continuing 
for  twelve  weeks  to  and  including  March  23. 

Third  term:  Beginning  March  27  and  continuing  for  eleven 
weeks  to  June  8,  inclusive. 

School  sessions. — Each  class  group  shall  be  taught  two  evenings 
per  week  only,  as  follows:  Some  groups  taught  on  Monday  and 
Wednesday  evenings;  other  groups  taught  on  Tuesday  and  Thursday 
evenings.  Where  necessary  other  groups  may  be  organized  for 
instruction  on  Friday  and  Saturday  evenings. 

The  evening  session  in  the  elementary  and  high  school  shall  begin 
at  7:20  and  terminate  at  9:30,  the  period  from  7:20  to  7:30  to  be 
devoted  by  the  teachers  to  preparation,  consultation  with  students, 
or  individual  help.  The  time  from  7 :  30  to  9:30  shall  be  divided  into 
two  class  periods  of  sixty  minutes  each,  except  for  classes  in  cooking, 
auto-mechanics,  and  machine  shop,  which  shall  occupy  the  full  two- 
hour  session  each  night. 

Public  evening  high  schools  are  conducted  on  Monday,  Tuesday, 
Wednesday,  and  Thursday  evenings  at  all  of  the  six  high-school 
buildings. 

Public  evening  elementary  schools  are  conducted  in  these  same 
high-school  centers  on  the  same  evenings  with  length  of  term  and 
nightly  sessions  as  provided  for  the  high  schools.  Evening 
elementary-school  classes  are  conducted  at  some  of  the  elementary- 
school  centers  also.     Classes  may  be  organized  in  other  school  build- 

*  Adapted  from  literature  of  the  St.  Louis  Board  of  Education. 


512  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

ings  in  connection  with  social-center  activities  when  authorized  by 
the  Board  of  Education. 

Students  of  all  ages  over  fourteen,  who  are  not  attending  the 
day  schools,  may  attend  the  evening  schools. 

Students  attending  day  schools  are  not  eligible  to  attend  either 
the  high  or  elementary  schools,  except  those  students  attending  only 
four  hours  a  week  in  part-time  classes,  or  such  students  as  may 
obtain  permission  from  the  Instruction  Department. 

Tuition  for  non-resident  students:-  Non-resident  students  may 
be  admitted  to  evening-school  classes  on  payment  of  the  tuition  fee 
of  $5.00  per  term. 

No  charge  for  tuition  or  books:  the  public  evening  schools  are 
free  to  all  those  who  reside  in  St.  Louis.  This  includes  the  use  of 
all  books  and  supplies  without  charge,  except  a  deposit  fee  for  the 
use  of  books. 

When  classes  may  be  formed. — Twenty  registrants  shall  be  neces- 
sary for  the  formation  of  classes  in  both  the  elementary  and  high 
schools,  except  for  classes  in  special  subjects  or  for  immigrants  or 
illiterates.  Such  classes  may  be  organized  with  a  smaller  registra 
tion  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  superintendent  of  instruction. 
Classes  may  be  divided  if  the  average  weekly  attendance  is  thirty 
or  more  students. 

When  classes  shall  be  discontinued. — Classes  whose  average 
monthly  attendance  falls  below  ten  shall  be  combined  with  other 
classes  or  discontinued  unless  special  permission  to  continue  them  is 
granted  by  superintendent. 

Subjects  taught  in  all  evening  high  schools. — ^The  high  schools  offer 
a  wide  selection  in  the  choice  of  subjects.  To  those  who  are  employed 
during  the  day  they  offer  an  excellent  opportimity  to  broaden  their 
education  along  lines  required  in  their  daily  employment  and  fit 
them  for  greater  responsibilities.  To  the  earnest  and  ambitious 
worker  they  offer  many  opportunities  to  take  up  the  study  of  those 
subjects  in  which  he  is  interested. 

Vocational  classes:  Short  unit  courses  in  Joinery,  Pattern- 
Making,  Foundry  Practice,  Machine  Shop-Practice,  Auto-Mechanics, 
Applied  Electricity,  Architectm-al  and  Mechanical  Drawing,  Com- 
mercial Art,  Industrial  Design,  Trade  Millinery  and  Trade  Dress- 
making, Interior  Decoration. 

Academic  courses:  Courses  in  Social  Science,  American  History 
and  Civics,  Commercial  Law,  Social  Economy,  English  and  Liter- 
ature, General  Science. 


EVENING-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  513 

Commercial  classes:  Practical  courses  in  Bookkeeping,  Short- 
hand, Typewriting,  Office  Practice,  Salesmanship  and  Advertising, 
and  Accounting. 

Vocational  home-making  courses:  Vocational  home-making 
courses  have  for  their  aim  the  training  of  girls  and  women  for  the 
vocation  of  home-making  as  practiced  by  the  wife  and  mother  in  the 
home.  The  following  are  suggested  unit  courses  in  home-making 
for  this  training: 

A.  Foods.    Lessons  in  Cookery. 

B.  Hygiene  and  Home  Nursing. 

C.  Making  and  Repairing  Clothing. 

D.  Millinery 

E.  Home  Planning  and  Home  Furnishing. 

Civics:  All  men  and  women  should  have  a  good  general  knowl- 
edge of  the  duties,  rights,  and  privileges  of  American  citizenship. 
Instruction  in  our  form  of  government,  city,  state,  and  national,  is 
fully  covered  in  this  course.  This  study  is  especially  useful  for  men 
and  women  arriving  at  the  voting  age. 

Modem  languages:  Spanish,  French. 

Gymnasium  classes,  chorus  singing,  orchestra,  open  forum,  and 
debating  clubs. 

Enghsh  and  Civics  for  foreigners. 

EVENING  HIGH   SCHOOLS    IN   BOSTON 

The  example  given  below,  of  the  Boston  evening  high  schools, 
may  be  studied  as  a  rather  complete  statement  of  the  administra- 
tion of  an  extensive  system  of  evening  schools,  and  one  in  which 
the  details  of  administration  are  presented.  Certain  features  of 
the  commercial  work  offered,  with  an  outline  of  a  sample  course 
in  advertising,  are  given:' 

The  evening  high  schools,  which  numbered  five  in  1910-11,  are 
now  nine  in  number.  The  growth  of  the  evening  high  schools  in 
number  and  influence  has  been  accompanied  by  a  distinct  change  in 
character.  In  1910  the  evening  high  schools,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Central  Evening  High  School,  were  changed  from  general  high 
schools   to   commercial  high  schools.     The  Central  Evening  High 

» Adapted  from  Annual  Report  of  the  Superintendent,  Boston  Public 
Schools,  and  from  A  Provisional  Course  of  Study  for  the  Evening  High 
Schools,  Boston  Public  Schools,  pp.  6-12.  (This  material  was  submitted  in 
April,  1922,  as  current.) 


514  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

School  offers  both  academic  and  commercial  subjects.  The  number 
of  pupils  pursuing  so-called  cultural  subjects  is  comparatively  small, 
only  286  this  year  out  of  a  total  of  5,016,  and  questioning  of  these 
pupils  on  various  occasions  has  disclosed  the  fact  that  most  of  them 
are  taking  academic  subjects  with  a  strictly  vocational  end  in  view. 
In  other  words,  our  evening  high  schools  are  today  vocational  schools, 
with  the  emphasis  on  commercial  subjects.  In  1916  the  commercial 
character  of  these  schools  was  further  intensified  and  speciahzed 
commercial  courses  with  definite  requirements  for  graduation  were 
authorized.  In  consequence  of  the  changed  character  of  the  evening 
high  schools  the  course  of  study  was  revised  through  the  efforts  of 
principals  and  teachers  and  was  ready  for  distribution  in  printed 
form  in  September,  191 7.  The  revised  course  of  study  offers  pupils 
an  opportimity  to  attempt  specialized  commercial  courses  with  a 
view  to  receiving  intensive  training  for  particular  types  of  commercial 
work.  Among  the  speciaHzed  courses  offered  lare  the  secretarial 
course,  which  emphasizes  a  mastery  of  phonography  and  typewriting; 
the  accountancy  course,  which  includes  the  principles  and  practices 
of  advanced  bookkeeping;  the  merchandising  course,  which  includes 
principles  of  business  organization,  selling  and  service  to  customers; 
and  the  office  practice  course,  which  includes  the  principles  and 
methods  of  adjusting  one's  self  to  modern  business  office  conditions, 
and  familiarity  with  the  principles  of  filing  systems  and  labor-saving 
machines  and  devices.  Commercial  Spanish  was  authorized  as  a 
subject  in  all  evening  high  schools  in  191 7,  and  last  year  the  subject 
of  American  government  was  likewise  authorized. 

SESSIONS 

Sessions  are  held  on  Monday.  Tuesday  and  Thursday  evenings. 
They  begin  at  half-past  seven  o'clock  and  close  at  half-past  nine 
o'clock.  The  school  rooms  are  opened  and  the  teachers  are  present 
fifteen  minutes  before  the  time  for  the  session  to  begin. 

ADMISSION 

Pupils  are  admitted  to  the  evening  high  schools  as  follows: 

(a)  Residents  of  Boston  who  are  graduates  of  Boston  elementary 
day  or  evening  schools,  are  over  sixteen  years  of  age  and  are  not 
attending  a  pubUc  day  school  in  the  City  of  Boston. 

(b)  Residents  of  Boston  who  are  graduates  of  schools  of  equal 
or   higher  grade   than   those  mentioned   in   (a),  are  over   sixteen 


EVENING-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  515 

years  of  age  and  are  not  attending  a  public  day  school  in  the 
City  of  Boston. 

(c)  Residents  of  Boston  who  have  attended  day  high  schools, 
are  over  sixteen  years  of  age  and  are  not  attending  a  public  day  school 
in  the  City  of  Boston. 

{d)  Residents  of  Boston  who  are  over  sixteen  j'-ears  of  age  and 
who  pass  the  entrance  examinations. 

(e)  Non-residents  of  Boston  who  meet  the  admission  require- 
ments arid  pay  the  necessary  tuition,  one-half  in  advance  and  the 
remainder  before  January  i. 

(f)  No  pupil  will  be  admitted  to  an  evening  high  school  who  is 
unable  to  attend  at  least  two  hours  on  two  evenings  each  week  except 
by  permission  of  the  director. 

Note  i.  Those  included  under  (a),  (6)  and  (c)  are  admitted 
without  examination.  Those  included  under  {d)  are  required  to 
pass  an  examination  in  reading,  writing,  English  composition,  and 
arithmetic.  Admission  examinations  are  held  in  the  different  high 
schools  during  the  opening  week  of  the  term  and  at  such  other  times 
as  the  principal  of  the  school  may  determine. 

Note  2.  Pupils  over  fourteen  years  of  age  attending  a  public 
day  school  in  the  City  of  Boston  are  admitted  to  the  evening  high 
schools  only  by  written  permission  on  a  form  provided  for  the  purpose 
and  obtainable  at  the  several  schools. 

ADVANCE   PAYMENT 

Each  pupil  who  enters  an  evening  high  school  is  required  to 
make  an  advance  payment  of  one  dollar  ($1)  at  the  time  of  his  applica- 
tion for  admission,  for  which  he  is  given  a  receipt  on  a  form  provided 
for  the  purpose. 

If  at  the  end  of  the  evening  school  term  the  pupil  has  complied 
with  the  regulations  of  the  School  Committee  the  amount  of  the 
advance  payment  will  be  refunded  upon  the  surrender  of  his  receipt. 
This  receipt  is  not  transferable  and  must  be  presented  for  the  refund 
during  the  last  week  of  the  evening  school  term  by  the  pupil  named 
upon  it. 

ATTENDANCE 

Any  pupil  who  is  absent  from  school  for  three  consecutive  eve- 
nings on  which  his  attendance  is  due  shall  not  be  readmitted  to  his 
classes  until  his  absence  shall  have  been  satisfactorily  explained  to 
the  principal. 


5i6  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

DIPLOMAS 

Diplomas  are  granted  for  quality  and  quantity  of  work  reported 
as  follows: 

(a)  A  diploma  is  awarded  to  pupils  who  have  won  twenty-four 
diploma  points,  which  usually  requires  attendance  at  school  on  three 
evenings  a  week  for  four  years. 

(b)  Diploma  points  cannot  be  granted  more  than  once  in  the 
same  subject. 

(c)  Not  more  than  six  diploma  points  can  be  earned  in  the  same 
year. 

(d)  The  twenty-four  diploma  points  must  include  at  least  three 
points  in  English  II. 

(e)  Pupils  shall  receive  no  credit  unless  they  have  been  present 
at  least  two-thirds  of  all  sessions  held  during  the  term,  or  at  least 
three-fourths  of  all  sessions  held  after  January  first. 

(J)  Pupils  who  have  attended  at  least  two- thirds  of  all  sessions 
held  during  the  term,  or  at  least  three-fourths  of  all  sessions  held 
after  January  first,  may  be  granted  advanced  standing  in  subjects 
offered  by  the  school  under  the  following  conditions: 

1.  A  pupil  may  receive  advanced  standing  in  any  subject  author- 
ized in  the  particular  school  at  which  he  attends  provided  he  presents 
satisfactory  evidence  that  he  has  completed  that  subject  in  a  school 
recognized  and  accredited  as  equivalent  in  rank.  This  evidence  shall, 
in  general,  consist  of  duly  signed  certificates  and  may  in  the  discre- 
tion of  the  principal  be  supplemented  by  examination. 

2.  A  pupil  may  receive  advanced  standing  in  the  work  of  the 
first  or  second  year  of  a  progressive  subject  authorized  in  the  par- 
ticular school  at  which  he  attends  provided  he  presents  satisfactory 
evidence  of  having  studied  the  subject  one  year  or  more  in  school  or 
in  employment  and  provided  he  enters  and  satisfactorily  completes  a 
higher  grade  of  the  same  subject  and  receives  credit  therefor.  At  the 
discretion  of  the  principal  pupils  of  suflicient  maturity  may  be 
admitted  to  a  higher  grade  and  receive  advanced  standing  under  the 
above  conditions. 

3.  Not  more  than  eightecii  points  in  advanced  standing  may  be 
granted  in  any  case,  and  not  more  than  twelve  points  in  advanced 
standing  may  be  granted  except  in  the  case  of  a  pupil  who  has 
satisfactorily  completed  three  years  in  a  Boston  day  high  school 
of  the  same  character  as  that  of  the  particular  school  at  which  he 
attends. 


EVENING-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  517 

4.  Graduates  of  day  high  schools  shall  not  receive  advanced 
standing  in  subjects  which  have  been  credited  towards  day  high 
school  diplomas. 

(g)  Diplomas  are  granted  in  each  of  the  following  courses: 
Accountancy  Course,  Merchandising  Course,  Office  Practice  Course, 
Secretarial  Course,  General  Commercial  Course,  General -Academic 
Course. 

A  diploma  in  the  Accountancy  Course  is  awarded  to  pupils  who 
have  won  three  diploma  points  in  Bookkeeping  III  and  twenty-one 
diploma  points  in  the  following  subjects:  Bookkeeping  I,  II;  Civil 
Service;  Commerce  and  Industry;  Commercial  Arithmetic;  Com- 
mercial Law;  EngHsh  I,  II,  III;  Penmanship;  Spanish  I,  II. 

A  diploma  in  the  Merchandising  Course  is  awarded  to  pupils  who 
have  won  three  diploma  points  in  Merchandising  and  twenty-one 
diploma  points  in  the  following  subjects:  Advertising;  Civil  Service. 
Commerce  and  Industry;  Commercial  Arithmetic;  Commercial 
Law;  Economics;  English  I,  II,  III;  Penmanship;  Spanish  I,  II. 

A  diploma  in  the  Office  Practice  Course  is  awarded  to  pupils  who 
have  won  three  diploma  points  in  Office  Practice  and  twenty-one 
diploma  points  in  the  following  subjects:  Bookkeeping  I,  II,  II; 
Civil  Service;  Commercial  Arithmetic;  Commercial  Law;  Eco- 
nomics; English  I,  II,  III;  Penmanship;  Phonography  I,  II,  III; 
Spanish  I,  II;  Typewriting  I,  II. 

A  diploma  in  the  Secretarial  Course  is  awarded  to  pupils  who 
have  won  three  diploma  points  in  Phonography  III  and  three  diploma 
points  in  Typewriting  II  and  eighteen  diploma  points  in  the  following 
subjects:  Advertismg;  Civil  Service;  Commercial  Arithmetic;  Com- 
mercial Law;  EngHsh  I,  II,  III;  Penmanship;  Phonography  I,  II; 
Spanish  I,  II;  Typewriting  I. 

A  diploma  in  the  General  Commercial  Course  is  awarded  to  pupils 
unable  to  qualify  for  a  diploma  in  the  above-named  courses  who  have 
won  twenty-four  diploma  points  in  the  subjects  authorized  in  the 
evening  commercial  high  schools. 

A  diploma  in  the  General  Academic  Course  is  awarded  to  pupils 
imable  to  qualify  for  a  diploma  in  the  above-named  courses  who  have 
won  twenty-four  diploma  points  in  the  subjects  authorized  in  the 
Central  Evening  High  School. 

Not  more  than  twelve  points  in  the  following  subjects  may  be 
counted  towards  a  diploma  from  any  course;  Algebra  I;  Bookkeep- 
ing I;  Civil  Service;  Commercial  Arithmetic;  English  I;  French  I; 
German  I;  Italian  I;  Latin  I;  Penmanship;  Spanish  I. 


Si8 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


The  subjects  offered  and  the  number  of  diploma  points  granted 
are  shown  in  the  following  table: 

Evening  High  Schools 


Diploma 

Advertising *3 

Algebra  1 6 

Algebra  II 6 

Bookkeeping  I *3 

Bookkeeping  II *3 

Bookkeeping  III *3 

Chemistry  1 3 

Chemistry  II  (two  hours) ...  6 

Civil  Government  1 3 

Civil  Government  II 3 

Civil  Service *3 

Civil  Service  (two  hours) ....  *6 

Commerce  and  Industry ....  *3 

Commercial  Arithmetic *3 

Commercial  Law *3 

Economics *3 

English  I *3 

English  II *3 

English  III *3 

French  I  (two  hours) 6 

French  II  (two  hours) 6 

French  III  (two  hours) 6 

Geometry  I  (Plane) 3 

Geometry  II  (solid) 3 

German  I  (two  hours) 6 

German  II  (two  hours) 6 

German  III  (two  hours) ....  6 

History  I  (Ancient) 3 


Points 

History  II  (English) 3 

History  III  (United  States) . .  3 

Italian  I  (two  hours) 6 

Italian  II  (two  hours) 6 

Latin  1 3 

Latin  I  (two  hours) 6 

Latin  II  (Caesar) 3 

Latin  III  (Vergil) 3 

Literature  I  (American) 3 

Literature  II  (earlier  English 

authors) 3 

Literature  III  (later  English 

authors) 3 

Lowell    School   Mathematics 

(two  hours) *6 

Merchandising *3 

Office  Practice *3 

Penmanship *3 

Phonography  I *3 

Phonography  II *3 

Phonography  III  (speed) ....  *3 

Physics  I  (two  hours) 6 

Physics  II  (two  hours) 6 

Spanish  I  (two  hours) *6 

Spanish  II  (two  hours) *6 

Typewriting  I *3 

Typewriting  II *3 


Note  i.  Commercial  evening  high  schools  offer  only  such  sub- 
jects as  are  marked  with  an  asterisk. 

Note  2.  In  case  a  class  meets  regularly  less  than  three  times 
each  week  or  for  a  part  of  the  year  only,  the  number  of  diploma 
points  will  be  dimmished  proportionately,  but  fractional  parts  of 
diploma  points  will  be  disregarded. 

Note  3.  Classes  will  be  formed  in  subjects  for  which  a  reason- 
able number  make  application,  and  short  unit  courses  will  be  con- 
ducted in  subjects  as  are  approved  by  the  Director. 


EVENING-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  519 

CERTIFICATES 

At  the  end  of  each  year  pupils  not  receiving  diplomas  receive 
certificates  of  proficiency  in  each  subject  studied  as  follows: 

(a)  Provided  their  year's  record  has  been  satisfactory. 

(b)  Provided  they  have  been  in  attendaiice  upon  at  least  two- 
thirds  of  all  sessions  held  during  the  term,  or  at  least  three-fourths 
of  all  sessions  held  after  January  i. 

Certificates  show  the  number  of  points  credited  toward  a  diploma. 

OUTLINE   OF   A   SAMPLE   COURSE 

Advertising 

The  aim  of  this  course  is  to  give  pupils  a  practical  knowledge  of 
the  underlying  principles  of  advertising.  The  work  should  be  made 
as  concrete  as  possible,  and  the  constant  use  of  illustrative  material 
is  recommended. 

It  is  suggested  that  pupils  be  advised  to  take  Advertising  in 
connection  with  Merchandising  or  with  English  III. 

1.  The  place  of  advertising  in  business. 

2.  Purpose  of  advertising  in  business. 

3.  Analysis  of  goods. 

4.  Analysis  of  market. 

5.  Advertising  mediums. 

(a)  General  periodicals. 

(b)  Circulars,  catalogues,  sales  letters. 

(c)  House  organs. 
{d)  Novelties. 

(e)  Educational  lectures,  demonstrations,  moving  pictures. 
(J)  Display  of  goods. 
(g)  Outdoor  advertising. 
(h)  Dealers'  aids. 

6.  Printing  tools. 

(a)  Type. 

(b)  Stereot5rpe. 

(c)  Half  tone. 

(d)  Electrotype. 

(e)  Two  and  three  color  process. 
(/)  Lithograph. 

(g)  Etchings. 
(h)  Wood  cuts. 


520  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

7.  Planning  a  campaign. 

8.  Measuring  results. 

9.  The  laws  of  attention  applied  to  advertising. 

(a)  Absence  of  counter-attractions. 

(b)  Intensity  of  sensation. 

(c)  Contrast. 

(d)  Ease  of  comprehension. 

(e)  Repetition. 

(/)   Emotional  appeal. 

10.  Appeals  to  senses  and  instincts  (''Talking  Points") — taste,  hear- 
ing, smell,  sight,  touch,  cleanUness,  protection,  luxury,  health, 
family  love,  etc. 

11.  Classes  of  advertisements.  • 

(a)  Argumentative,  suggestive. 

(b)  Classified,  display. 

(c)  Appeals  to  different  classes. 

(d)  Conversational. 

(e)  Testimonial. 
(0   "You." 

(g)  Possible  combinations. 

EVENING   SCHOOL  WORK   IN  WASHINGTON,  D.C. 

The  evening-school  situation  in  Washington  is  typical  of 
that  in  a  number  of  large  cities.  Courses  of  different  types  are 
offered  in  different  schools.  For  example,  in  arts  in  a  manual- 
trauiing  high  school,  in  general  subjects  in  general  high  schools, 
and  in  commercial  subjects  in  the  Business  High  School.  Some 
of  the  features  of  the  Business  High  Night  School  are  thus 
described:' 

The  winter  session  of  the  business  High  Night  School  usually 
opens  in  late  September  and  closes  the  last  of  June.  The  school  is 
in  session  every  evening  from  '7:30  to  9:30  o'clock,  except  Sundays 
and  legal  holidays. 

There  are  no  tuition  fees  or  other  charges.  Pupils  supply  their 
own  books,  paper,  etc. 

Owing  to  the  large  number  of  pupils  the  school  is  organized  into 
two  groups.     One  group  meets  on  Monday,  Wednesday,  and  Friday 

»The  description  is  compiled  from  literature  furnished  by  W.  B. 
Patterson. 


EVENING-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  521 

evenings  and  the  other  group  meets  on  Tuesday,  Thursday,  and 
Saturday  evenings.     One  group  offers  no  advantage  over  the  other. 

Pupils  should  select  the  group  they  prefer  and  arrange  to  attend 
regularly  for  the  three  evenings  each  week. 

There  are  two  recitation  periods  each  evening.  Each  period  is 
one  hour  in  length. 

It  is  possible  for  a  pupil  to  take  two  courses  in  either  group. 

The  school  has  recently  received  more  than  250  new  t)rpewriting 
machines,  making  a  total  of  about  500  machines,  and  is  now  one  of 
the  best  equipped  night  schools  in  the  country. 

New  classes  are  started  as  demand  requires,  usually  once  a  month. 

Full  high  school  credits  are  given  for  courses  completed  in  the 
school. 

The  figures  given  below  indicate  the  total  number  of  houjrs  in 
each  subject  pursued  by  students,  a  few  taking  one  hour,  a  few  three 
hours,  but  most  of  them  two  hours  per  night. 

Stenography  (Gregg  and  Pitman) 1420 

Typewriting 685 

EngUsh 400 

Arithmetic 80 

Bookkeeping 320 

Bookkeeping  machine 8 

Rapid  calculating  machines 70 

Accountancy 160 

Commercial  law 1 20 

French 40 

Spanish 140 

Gynmasium 90 

The  last  enrolment  called  for  499  men  and  1406  women. 

We  give  certificates  of  proficiency  for  satisfactory  units  of  work 
but  are  planning  to  give  night  high  school  diplomas  for  a  course  of 
twenty-four  semester  hours  of  work,  provided  English  and  Civics 
have  been  included.  Our  courses  are  practically  free  as  far  as  tuition 
is  concerned. 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  EVENING  SCHOOL  WORK 

The  organization  of  evening  work,  as  of  any  course,  should 
be  in  terms  of  purposes.  In  so  far,  therefore,  as  the  aims  of 
night-school  studies  vary  from  those  of  day-school  studies, 


522  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

there  should  be  a  variation  in  organization.  Certain  proposed 
principles  for  the  organization  of  evening-school  commercial 
courses  are  those  given  by  one  agency  which  has  made  a  con- 
siderable study  of  the  problem.' 

Evening-school  commercial  courses  should  be  regarded  as  voca- 
tional in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  term.  They  should  be  either 
extension  or  preparatory  courses,  and  they  should  be  organized  with 
the  exact  needs  of  commercial  workers  definitely  in  mind. 

By  "extension "  is  meant  that  kind  of  training  which  will  improve 
the  worker  in  the  performance  of  the  tasks  incident  to  his  present 
employment  and  fit  him  for  promotion  in  the  same  line.  By  "pre- 
paratory" is  meant  that  kind  of  training  which  is  designed  to  fit  the 
student  for  a  position  different  from  the  one  he  is  now  holding. 
Both  types  of  training  for  commercial  occupations  may  be  included 
in  evening-school  courses. 

So  far  as  possible,  each  course  should  be  so  arranged  as  to  provide 
complete  training  for  all  phases  of  the  commercial  occupation  for 
which  the  course  is  designed  and  yet  the  whole  course  should  be 
broken  into  units  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  want  specific  intensive 
training  for  only  one  phase  of  the  vocation.  Thus,  the  complete 
course  might  extend  over  a  period  of  one,  two,  or  even  three  years, 
while  each  unit  might  be  only  ten  weeks  in  length.  Even  shorter 
units  would  facilitate  proper  classification  of  those  who  register  from 
time  to  time. 

Having  set  up  the  above  basic  principles  the  next  step  is  to  deter- 
mine what  commercial  vocations  should  be  included  in  the  list  for 
which  training  is  to  be  offered.  The  needs  of  the  persons  to  be 
trained  should  be  kept  in  mind  in  listing  these  vocations.  Local 
conditions  and  requirements  wUl  be  factors  of  prime  importance. 

With  the  occupations  listed  the  next  step  will  be  to  outline 
courses  designed  to  give  the  needed  training  for  each  occupation. 
Careful  study  and  research  should  precede  the  organization  of  such 
courses.  If  the  unit  course  plan  is  followed,  the  complete  course, 
which  consists  of  a  combination  of  units,  would  be  considered  as 
preparatory,  while  each  single  unit  might  well  be  regarded  as  extension 
training.  For  obvious  reasons  entirely  separate  courses  for  these 
two  purposes  will  not  be  required. 

» Adapted  by  permission  from  Bulletin  34,  p.  37.  Federal  Board  for 
Vocational  Education. 


EVENING-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  523 

There  is  helpful  suggestion  for  persons  interested  in  evening- 
school  organization  in  the  following  very  concrete  statement  of 
the  difficulties  found  by  one  person  who  was  concerned  with 
such  a  school:^ 

We  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  evening  school  of  the  present  is 
primarily  for  the  adult,  and  that  of  the  future  will  be  even  more 
distinctively  so.  The  evening  school  for  the  adult  is  here  to  stay. 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  at  present  attendance  for  by  far  the  greater 
number  is  not  compulsory,  and  this  number  is  steadily  growing 
larger.  This  is  significant  in  considering  regularity  of  attendance. 
For,  granting  the  very  best  of  motives  on  the  part  of  the  pupils,  yet 
it  is  a  matter  of  individual  judgment  as  to  which  will  yield  the 
greater  returns,  for  example,  the  two  hours  at  the  school  or  the 
evening  at  the  lodge  meeting,  at  home  resting  or  doing  some  much- 
needed  work. 

But  granting  the  desire  on  the  part  of  the  individual  to  be  present 
a  given  evening,  what  are  some  of  the  conditions  tending  to  make 
this  frequently  impossible  ?  The  kind  of  employment  of  the  pupils 
represents  one  of  the  most  common  difficulties  in  the  way  of  regular 
attendance.  The  following  are  actual  cases  which  came  within  the 
experience  of  one  evening-school  teacher  with  a  small  class: 

1.  A  plumber  found  it  impossible  to  come  when  his  work  took 
him  to  a  distant  part  of  the  city. 

2.  A  laborer  found  work  in  a  brickyard  too  far  distant  to  permit 
him  to  come  regularly. 

3.  Astreet^car  motorman  whose  schedule  had  brought  him  to 
"the  bam"  at  6:40  was  put  on  a  schedule  which  brought  him  in  at 
7:40.    He  came  to  school  for  a  while  even  though  an  hour  late. 

4.  A  grocer's  clerk  frequently  could  not  get  through  with  his 
work  in  time  to  come. 

5.  A  pharmacist,  a  Hungarian  trained  in  the  Gymnasium  and 
university  of  his  home  country,  could  come  only  alternate  weeks, 
because  of  his  working  schedule.  Aside  from  the  matter  in  question 
but  illustrating  the  interest  and  seriousness  of  purpose  of  foreigners 
learning  English,  it  may  be  worth  while  to  add  that  this  man  came 
alternate  weeks  a  distance  that  required  a  car  ride  of  over  an  hour  for 
individual  instruction,    and  later  at  even  greater  sacrifice  took  up 

*  Adapted  by  permission  from  Paul  J.  Kruse,  "Some  Problems  of  the 
Evening  School,"  School  Review,  XXII  (November,  1914),  595-97. 


524  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

work  at  a  university  in  the  city  preparatoty  to  setting  up  as  an 
assayer. 

6.  A  waitress  came  when  the  hours  of  her  work,  frequently 
changed,  made  it  possible  for  her  to  come. 

Many  men  temporarily  out  of  employment  come  in  until  they 
find  employment  again. 

THE  PLACE  OF  THE  EVENING  SCHOOL 

Are  we  to  conclude  that  the  evening  schools'  function  is 
essentially  vocational?  Many  would  so  assert.  It  seems 
probable,  indeed,  that  the  evening  school  has  a  great  oppor- 
tunity in  the  giving  of  highly  specialized  short,  unit,  technical 
courses  which  will  aid  persons  in  the  performance  of  the  definite 
task  with  which  they  are  concerned.  It  has  an  opportunity, 
also,  in  offering  such  courses  for  persons  who  can  improve 
their  situation  through  the  acquisition  of  a  technique.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  prevalence  of  such  opportunity  would 
make  it  much  more  possible  for  the  secondary  and  even  the 
elementary  schools  to  devote  themselves  more  completely  to 
the  task  for  which  they  are  best  fitted.  If  high-school  students 
were  always  sure  that  they  could  secure  training  in  technical 
work,  even  if  they  did  not  get  it  during  the  two  or  four  years 
which  they  spend  in  high  school,  it  would  be  much  easier  for 
them  to  see  why  they  should  make  the  most  of  the  high-school 
years  in  the  study  of  basic  subjects. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  will  always  be  a  demand  in  the 
evening  schools  for  non-vocational  work — ^work  which  will 
merely  enrich  vocational  activities — and  for  work  which  can 
be  taken  largely  for  its  recreative  effect.  Many  persons  whose 
occupations  are  fairly  well  fixed  will  find  pleasure  and  growth 
in  studies  of  a  general  nature.  Whether  society  should,  at 
public  expense,  provide  for  this  form  of  consumption  is,  perhaps, 
a  debatable  question,  the  discussion  of  which  would  lead  into 
fundamental  issues  of  the  purpose  of  social  organization.  That 
matter  is,  in  any  case,  not  a  part  of  the  more  restricted  question 
of  the  place  of  the  night  schools  in  education  for  business. 


EVENING-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  525 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Are  we  justified  in  considering  evening  commercial  work  as  a 
modem  extension  of  the  high-school  commercial  course  ? 

2.  "Evening  commercial  work,  like  commercial  work  in  continua- 
tion schools,  is  only  an  incident  to  a  broader  development;  it 
is  the  contribution  of  the  commercial  course  to  evening  educa- 
tion." Does  the  foregoing  seem  to  you  a  true  statement  ?  If  it 
is  true,  what  does  it  mean  regarding  the  study  of  evening-school 
conmiercial  work  ? 

3.  "Evening  schools  began  with  private  evening  schools  operated 
for  a  profit."  Has  this  been  pretty  generally  the  history  of 
educational  institutions?  Can  you  cite  instances  where  other 
schools  have  had  the  same  origin  ? 

4.  Trace  briefly  the  stages  in  the  development  of  evening-school 
education. 

5.  How  do  you  account  for  the  rapid  spread  of  the  night-school  idea, 
once  it  was  well  under  way  ? 

6.  "The  total  number  of  persons  in  evening  schools  is  impressive. 
It  is  less  impressive  when  we  consider  the  number  which  might 
be  in  such  institutions."     Comment. 

7.  The  example  of  evening-school  work  in  Wisconsin  indicates  that, 
in  that  state  at  least,  evening  schools  are  mostly  concerned  with 
giving  what  sort  of  service  ? 

8.  Examine  the  descriptions  of  evening  schools  in  St.  Louis,  Boston, 
and  Washington.  Make  a  list  of  what  seem  to  you  the  significant 
matters  to  be  considered  in  the  organization  of  such  a  school. 
Under  each  of  these  as  headings,  note  the  way  in  which  they  are 
handled  in  the  evening  schools  of  the  three  cities  cited. 

9.  What  points  of  merit  or  what  disadvantages  do  you  see  in  the 
evening-school  commercial  work  in  any  of  the  three  examples 
given? 

10.  List  the  difiiculties  which  must  be  met  in  the  organization  of 
evening-school  commercial  courses.  Opposite  each  of  these 
difficulties  set  down  any  suggestions  which  you  can  for  avoiding 
or  overcoming  them. 

11.  "Evening-school  commercial  courses  should  be  regarded  as  voca- 
tional in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  term."  What  does  the  fore- 
going statement  mean  by  vocational?  Would  you  agree?  If 
not,  how  would  you  definitely  express  the  purpose  of  evening- 
school  commercial  courses  ? 


526  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

12.  The  chance  to  do  a  broad  educational  type  of  business  education 
in  the  high  school  depends  largely  on  the  chance  which  the  student 
has  to  secure  short,  thorough  technical  courses  in  some  of  the 
extensions  of  the  regular  course,  as  in  evening  and  continuation 
schools.    Explain. 

13.  How  can  it  be  said  to  be  debatable  as  to  whether  or  not  evening 
schools  should  give  general  courses  for  adults  ? 

14.  Draw  up  a  statement  or  series  of  statements  which  seem  to  you 
to  express  the  proper  place  of  the  evening  school  in  all  education. 

15.  Draw  up  a  statement  or  series  of  statements  expressing  what 
seems  to  be  to  you  the  place  or  role  of  evening-school  commercial 
work  in  an  organized  plan  of  education  for  business. 


CHAPTER  XX 

POSTGRADUATE  COMMERCIAL    COURSES,  SUPER- 
VISION AND  TEACHER  TRAINING 

In  this  chapter  we  shall  give  some  consideration  to  a  number 
of  matters  which  are  important  in  commercial  education, 
although,  none  of  them  have  developed  far  enough  or  broadly 
enough  to  justify  an  extensive  discussion.  One  of  these,  like 
the  agencies  we  have  just  been  considering,  is  an  extension  of 
the  high-school  commercial  course.  The  others  are  extensions, 
perhaps,  but  cannot  accurately  be  called  teaching  agencies. 
They  are  rather  supplementary  to  the  high-school  commercial 
course  and  to  all  of  the  extensions  which  we  have  had  under 
consideration. 

THE  POSTGRADUATE   COMMERCIAL  COURSE 

The  modern  extension  of  the  high-school  commercial 
course  to  be  considered  in  this  chapter  may  be  called  the  high- 
school  postgraduate  course,  or  the  concentrated  technical  course. 
Although  as  yet  not  very  extensively  developed,  such  courses 
seem  to  have  much  promise.  These  courses  are  plans  of 
operation  which  give  the  student  an  opportunity  to  secure 
training  in  technique  such  as  stenography  or  typewriting  during 
the  last  few  months  of  the  regular  four-year  course,  or  in  a 
special  five  months'  or  year's  course  after  graduation. 

Such  courses  have  been  in  operation  in  some  schools  for  at 
least  twenty  years.  In  the  Dorchester  High  School  of  Boston, 
for  example,  such  a  course  in  postgraduate  form  was  established 
in  1902-3.  The  following  statement  summarizes  the  experience 
of  Dorchester  with  this  type  of  school.^ 

Our  postgraduate  course  in  commercial  subjects  is  open  only  to 
high-school  graduates  who  previously  have  not  had  commercial  sub- 

» A  statement  by  W.  L.  Anderson,  head  of  the  commercial  department, 
Dorchester  High  School,  Boston,  Mass. 

527 


528  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

jects.  About  half  of  the  class  are  graduates  of  our  own  school,  while 
many  others  come  from  public  and  private  high  schools.  A  few 
each  year  are  college  graduates.    One  year  we  had  seven  of  these. 

Since  this  is  an  intensified  course  for  beginners,  our  own 
commercial-course  graduates  who  for  any  reason  desire  to  return 
to  the  school  are  cared  for  in  a  special  fifth-year  course.  We  probably 
have  two  or  three  people  each  year  return  for  our  postgraduate  course 
after  they  have  been  in  business  or  to  other  institutions.  This  means 
two  or  three  out  of  sixty. 

We  do  not  find  any  trouble  about  the  ready  acquirement  of 
skill  at  the  average  age  of  about  twenty  years  for  the  whole  class. 

Uniformity  of  purpose  is  probably  the  most  marked  character- 
istic of  the  group,  and  this  is  the  most  important  quality  in  any 
group  in  our  schools. 

There  has  grown  up  on  the  part  of  the  teachers  in  courses  other 
than  commercial  a  tendency  to  advise  able  students  to  finish  their 
general  education  before  they  specialize.  This  means  that  the 
average  of  intelligence  of  the  class  is  very  high,  and  this  fact  makes 
the  product  of  the  class  well  known  and  in  demand  by  the  business 
world. 

The  course  began  as  an  experiment  in  1902-3  with  three  pupils, 
and  therefore  has  been  in  operation  some  twenty  years.  It  has 
grown  steadily  until  now  we  have  sixty  or  more  persons  in  the  class. 
For  the  past  three  years  it  has  been  divided  into  two  sections.  Being 
graduates,  the  pupils  are  permitted  to  take  as  many  or  as  few  subjects 
as  they  individually  desire.  The  majority  of  the  class  take  Phonog- 
raphy, Typewriting,  Bookkeeping,  and  Commercial  Law.  In  the 
Phonography,  T)rpewriting,  and  Bookkeeping  they  have  one  lesson 
daily  and  cover  in  one  year  at  least  as  much  as  is  covered  in  two  years 
in  regular  courses.  This  means  that  in  shorthand  they  are  beginners 
in  September  and  in  June  can  write  as  a  class  one  hundred  words 
per  minute.  Twenty-five  of  last  year's  class  had  good  business 
positions  before  the  close  of  school. 

In  the  twenty  years  during  which  the  class  has  been  in  operation, 
we  have,  simply  as  a  side  issue,  trained  and  placed  in  high-school 
positions  as  commercial  teachers  some  seventy-five  young  men  and 
women.  From  this  course  more  than  25  per  cent  of  these  have  been 
college  graduates. 

In  Madison  the  course  has  been  open  to  Seniors  and  has 
been  taken  more  extensively  by  Seniors  than  by  graduates. 


POSTGRADUATE  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  529 

The  course  was  established,  however,  to  meet  the  needs  of 
graduates  who  had  not  taken  the  commercial  course. 

A  few  years  ago  the  Chicago  public  schools  began  an 
experiment  with  concentrated  postgraduate  courses.  The  ex- 
periment proved  so  satisfactory  that  the  courses  are  now 
given  in  a  number  of  high  schools  scattered  over  the  city.  A 
description  of  the  work  in  some  detail  is  given  in  the  following 
statement:^ 

To  meet  a  need  which  apparently  was  not  being  met,  the  super- 
visor of  commercial  work  in  the  Chicago  high  schools  introduced 
what  he  describes  as  an  intensive  five  months'  course  in  stenography, 
offered  only  to  graduates  of  a  four-year  high-school  course.  This 
course  was  added  to  the  high-school  commercial  curriculum  in 
February,  191 7,  and  was  put  into  operation  at  that  time  in  a  single 
school,  the  Lucy  Flower  Technical  High  School  for  Girls.  In  June, 
191 7,  a  class  of  seven  was  certificated,  and  in  February,  191 8,  a  class 
of  eleven  finished  the  course. 

So  satisfactory  were  the  results  obtained  that  at  the  beginning 
of  the  February,  1918,  semester  this  intensive  five  months'  steno- 
graphic course  was  extended  to  five  other  Chicago  high  schools, 
namely:  Austin,  Lake  View,  Medill,  Phillips,  and  Schurz.  These 
schools  represent  geographical  divisions  of  the  city,  and  each  is 
central  to  the  other  high  schools  in  its  part  of  town.  At  this  writing 
there  are  381  pupils  enrolled  in  the  six  high  schools  offering  this 
course.  The  Flower  High  School  has  an  enrolment  of  seventy-one 
girls,  all  graduates  of  a  four-year  high-school  course,  and  there  is 
every  prospect  that  the  full  quota  will  be  certificated  as  stenographers 
in  June. 

It  is  common  opinion  that  this  course  has  been  properly  desig- 
nated intensive.  Exactly  the  same  work  in  stenography  and  type- 
writing which  is  required  in  the  two-year  course  is  covered  in  this 
five  months'  course.  The  same  standards  are  maintained  for  the 
successful  completion  of  the  work.  For  instance,  a  shorthand  speed 
of  one  himdred  words  per  minute  and  a  typing  speed  of  forty  words 
per  minute  are  the  basis  of  certification  in  the  two-year  course,  and, 
likewise,  at  least  that  standard  must  be  attained  to  successfully 
complete  the  five  months'  course.    The  textbooks  for  this  course 

^  A  statement  prepared  by  Margaret  F.  Babcock,  in  charge  of  the 
Commercial  Continuation  School,  Chicago.    September,  192 1. 


530  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

are  those  in  use  in  the  longer  course,  arid  the  school  day  is  the  same — 
eight  periods. 

It  is  in  the  distribution  of  the  daily  periods,  however,  that  the 
departure  is  made.  In  the  first  and  second  semesters  of  the  longer 
course,  one  period  daily  is  given  to  shorthand  and  one  to  typing.  In 
the  third  and  fourth  semesters,  one  period  daily  is  given  to  shorthand 
and  one  to  typing,  and  a  third  period  is  variously  distributed,  some- 
times to  t3q)ing,  sometimes  to  revision  of  previously  typed  matter, 
again  to  tests  for  speed  in  either  shorthand  or  typing.  In  the  five 
months'  course,  the  entire  day  is  given  to  shorthand  and  t5^ing — 
three  periods  of  class  work  in  shorthand  and  three  to  typing,  with 
two  study  periods  placed  to  advantage.  In  the  longer  course  two 
semesters  are  devoted  to  the  mastery  of  the  theory  of  shorthand  and 
the  technique  of  typing.  The  excellent  work  done  at  the  Flower 
High  school  proves  that  this  ground  is  covered  successfully  in  six  weeks 
when  the  course  is  given  intensively  as  postgraduate  work.  This 
means  fourteen  of  the  twenty  weeks  may  be  devoted  to  practical 
stenographic  drill  to  attain  the  facility  and  skill  which  give  commercial 
value  to  this  training. 

Supplementary  to  the  intensive  work  of  the  school  day,  the  pupils 
report  home  work  ranging  from  two  to  four  hours  daily.  The 
students  are  encouraged  to  give  all  their  time  and  energy  to  the  work. 
It  is  made  plain  at  the  beginning  of  the  course  that  it  is  not  the  place 
for  coddhng  and  that  all  are  expected  to  qualify  at  the  end  of  the 
semester.  The  Flower  classes  are  conspicuously  interested  and  even 
a  casual  observer  feels  the  enthusiasm  which  pervades  the  work. 
The  intensive  character  of  the  course,  it  appears,  in  no  way  dampens 
the  ardor  of  the  pupils. 

As  is  usually  the  case  where  a  capable  progressive  teacher  directs 
stenographic  work,  this  intensive  course  at  Flower  is  expanded  some- 
what to  take  in  training  and  drill  in  the  office  activities  which  are 
closely  alUed  to  stenography.  Valuable  training  is  being  given  in 
filing.  The  pupils  have  more  or  less  intimate  knowledge  of  alpha- 
betical, numerical,  geographical,  and  other  filing  methods.  They  are 
given  some  training  in  transcribing  from  dictating  machines,  and  are 
also  afforded  some  instruction  in  the  use  of  the  comptometer.  Some 
attention  is  given  to  mimeography.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add 
that  extensive  training  of  this  nature  is  not  attempted  though  it  is 
significant  that  a  number  of  the  pupils  have  availed  themselves  of 
the  opportunity  afforded  in  a  nearby  public  evening  school  to  secure 


POSTGRADUATE  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  531 

further  practice  in  the  use  of  these  various  office  machines.  It  is 
pointed  out  that  practice  of  the  kind  is  also  available  all  the  year 
round  in  the  Public  Continuation  Cammercial  School. 

Again,  the  matter  of  spelling,  so  completely  interwoven  in  the 
stenographer's  skill,  is  not  neglected.  Added  to  the  spelling  drill 
which  is  inescapable  in  the  revision  work,  a  period  a  week  is  given  to 
spelling  as  such,  even  the  old-fashioned  but  ever-efifective  spelldown 
being  brought  into  play. 

One  can  scarcely  conceive  a  product  of  this  training  failing  of 
immediate  appreciation  in  the  commercial  world,  and  it  is  true  that, 
with  one  exception,  those  who  have  finished  the  course  at  Flower  are 
well  placed  at  satisfactory  beginning  salaries.  It  is  rather  early  to 
attempt  a  comparison  of  the  rate  of  advancement  as  between  these 
pupils  and  those  who  have  taken  only  a  two-year  high-school  course, 
though  it  is  altogether  to  be  expected  that  the  contrast  will  be  distinct. 

A  more  recent  development  in  postgraduate  commercial  courses 
in  the  Chicago  secondary  school  system  is  the  six  months'  secretarial 
course  now  ofifered  in  Commercial  Continuation  School.  This  course 
is  open  to  graduates  of  a  four-year  high-school  course.  In  addition 
to  the  shorthand  and  typewriting,  short  courses  are  given  in  account- 
ing, letter-writing,  conmiercial  law,  and  filing.  The  aim  is  to  equip 
for  secretarial  work  of  an  exacting  nature. 

POSSIBILITIES  IN  TEffi  CONCENTRATED  COURSE 

The  postgraduate  course  is  one  which  promises  a  great  deal 
of  opportunity  for  enriching  the  secondary-school  commercial 
course.  When  the  student  has  graduated  or  is  about  to  do  so 
he  is  much  more  likely  to  know  the  particular  technique  which 
he  will  need  in  the  job  which  lies  before  him.  The  postgraduate 
concentrated  course  enables  him  to  prepare  for  that  kind  of 
technique  instead  of  giving  him  a  variety  of  techniques  which 
have  no  particular  use.  Moreover,  it  seems  quite  likely  that  a 
student  acquires  his  technique  more  rapidly  when  it  is  thus 
given  in  concentrated  form.  Clearly  there  are  limits  to  this. 
No  one  would  allege  that  because  five  months  may  be  better  than 
two  years  in  which  to  learn  typewriting,  that  five  days  would  be 
better  than  five  months.  As  a  matter  of  fact  no  careful  study 
has  yet  been  made  of  the  learning  curve  in  this  field,  and  we  are 
somewhat  at  sea  as  to  what  is  the  period  of  greatest  increasing 


532  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

returns  for  the  time  spent.  A  third  advantage  which  is  not 
likely  to  be  disputed  is  that  the  student  comes  to  his  new  job 
with  his  technique  freshly  at  hand.  If  he  has  taken  stenog- 
raphy and  typewriting  in  the  first  two  years  or  second  and 
third  years,  and  has  found  his  fourth  year  largely  occupied 
with  other  subjects,  there  is  plenty  of  chance  to  become  in- 
efficient in  these  techniques.  Finally,  and  most  important  of 
all,  is  that  the  postponement  of  this  technical  work  gives  an 
opportunity  for  something  of  great  value  to  be  done  for  the 
student  during  the  first  three  or  possibly  all  four  of  the  high- 
school  years. 

If  the  student  is  assured  that  he  need  not  leave  the  public- 
school  system  without  some  technique  which  he  can  sell 
immediately,  he  will  be  much  more  willing  to  devote  the  early 
years  of  his  high-school  course  to  those  studies  which  will  be 
most  valuable  to  him  in  the  long  run.  The  postgraduate  or 
concentrated  course  offers  such  an  opportunity.  In  addition 
it  enables  him  to  understand  his  technical  training  in  relation 
to  its  uses  in  business,  provided  a  proper  knowledge  of  the  mean- 
ing of  business  and  the  business  organization  has  been  given  in 
the  earlier  years.  When  one  adds  to  these  considerations  the 
fact  that  he  is  now  more  likely  to  know  his  job  and  the  fact  that 
he  will  go  from  this  training  directly  to  its  practice,  it  seems  that 
a  strong  case  is  made  for  courses  of  this  type.  It  is  doubtful  if 
there  is  a  single  development  in  secondary  work  which  could  be 
used  to  greater  advantage  from  the  standpoint  of  the  student 
than  the  postgraduate  technical  course  or  a  technical  course 
concentrated  in  the  last  semester  or  last  year.  Such  work 
should  of  course  not  be  Umited  to  the  students  or  graduates  of 
commercial  courses.  In  practice  it  has  been  found  that  the 
graduates  of  general  courses  often  desire  this  work,  and  that 
there  are  many  students  who  at  the  end  of  three  years  of  general 
work  wish  to  finish  their  high-school  course  with  some  technical 
subjects.  Such  courses  should  become  much  more  common. 
The  opportunities  which  they  present  should  be  given  the  most 
careful  thought  by  everyone  interested  in  broadening  and 
improving  secondary  commercial  education. 


POSTGRADUATE  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  533 

THE  CITY  SUPERVISOR  OF   COMMERCIAL  WORK 

Of  the  supplementary  agencies  to  be  discussed  in  this  chapter, 
the  city  supervisor  of  commercial  work  may  be  considered  first. 
Specialized  supervisors  for  commercial  work  have  not  yet  become 
very  great  in  numbers,  but  the  possible  utiUty  of  such  officers  is 
attracting  an  increasing  amount  of  attention.  Special  directors 
of  manual  training,  music,  drawing,  and  other  subjects  were 
numerous  before  commercial  supervisors  in  the  country  num- 
bered more  than  two  or  three.  Even  now  the  number  of  such 
supervisors  is  probably  less  than  a  dozen.  An  informal  national 
organization  has,  however,  been  organized  and  at  least  one 
general  meeting  called  to  discuss  the  problems  of  city  commercial 
directors.  The  duties  of  such  a  commercial  director  in  a  city 
school  system  have  been  thus  described:' 

The  director  should  advise  with  the  general  superintendent  in 
regard  to  the  installation  and  supervision  of  commercial  subjects 
and  equipment.  If  there  is  no  employment  bureau  maintained  in 
a  general  employment  department,  he  should  establish  and  supervise 
such  a  bureau  for  graduates  of  the  commercial  department.  He 
should  advise  with  the  superintendent  with  regard  to  the  selection 
of  textbooks  and  syllabi  for  commercial  subjects.  If  he  be  wise,  he 
will  consult  freely  with  his  teachers  and  principals  before  making 
his  recommendations.  At  all  times,  if  he  desires  to  be  successful,  he 
should  remember  that  his  supervision  is  horizontal  and  that  the  direct 
supervision  of  a  school  is  in  the  hands  of  the  principal.  He  should 
be  very  careful  not  to  issue  orders  directly  to  teachers  without  consult- 
ing the  principal  who  is  immediately  responsible  for  the  success  of 
his  school.  It  is  much  more  satisfactory  to  leave  directions  with  a 
principal  for  the  betterment  of  the  commercial  department  in  his 
school. 

STATE   SUPERVISION  OF  COMMERCIAL  EDUCATION 

A  second  form  of  direct  supervision  of  commercial  education 
which  has  developed  within  very  recent  years  is  state  super- 
vision by  a  special  state  officer.    New  York  state  was  probably 

» A  statement  by  William  Bachrach,  supervisor  of  commercial  work, 
Chicago  public  high  schools.  Mr.  Bachrach,  with  a  possible  exception  of 
Clay  Slinker,  of  Des  Moines,  was  the  first  commercial  supervisor  in  the 
United  States. 


534  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

the  first  to  create  such  an  office,  doing  so  in  1910.  Idaho  and 
Pennsylvania  have  now  established  similar  offices.  Such  a 
supervisor  has  numerous  opportunities  to  aid  business  education. 
One  can  conduct  surveys  as  a  basis  for  improving  the  training 
given  students,  formulate  plans  for  state-wide  programs  of 
education,  furnish  informational  and  inspirational  material  to 
commercial  teachers,  carry  on  research  upon  which  minimum 
standards  of  curriculum,  teacher  requirements,  and  equipment 
may  be  based.  A  supervisor  can  bring  to  legislative  bodies  the 
need  for  help  in  teacher-training  and  for  proper  certification 
laws  for  teachers  of  business  subjects. 

THE   COMMERCIAL   SERVICE   OF   THE   FEDERAL  BOARD 

Enough  concerning  its  work  has  been  said  at  various  points 
throughout  this  volume  to  make  any  discussion  of  the  com- 
mercial service  of  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education 
almost  superfluous.  It  is  worth  while,  however,  to  recall  that 
it  is  an  agency  which  can  exercise  an  extensive  influence. 
Several  quotations  in  this  volume  are  examples  of  the  character 
of  work  already  done  by  the  board.  For  the  making  of  broad 
surveys,  for  the  collection  and  dissemination  of  data  concerning 
business  education  experiments,  and  for  stimulating  general 
interest  in  the  field,  there  is  no  other  agency  so  well  quaUfied, 
nor  is  there  probably  any  single  agency  whose  suggestions 
or  proposals  will  be  so  kindly  and  so  widely  considered. 
This  throws  at  once  upon  the  commercial  service  of  the  Federal 
Board  a  great  opportunity  and  a  great  responsibility. 

COMMERCIAL  TEACHER-TRAINING 

Fundamental  to  any  general  growth  in  business  education 
is  proper  teaching.  Commercial  teacher-training  has  in  no 
way  kept  pace  with  teacher  education  in  other  fields.  The  fol- 
lowing statement  indicates  the  present  status  of  teacher-training 
in  conmiercial  work/ 

^  This  statement  was  prepared  by  May  R.  F'reedman.  It  is  in  part 
based  on  data  gathered  by  the  Commercial  Education  Service  of  the  Federal 
Board  for  Vocational  Education,  which  through  its  chief,  E.  W.  Barnhart, 


POSTGRADUATE  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  535 

Lack  of  clearly  defined  aims  and  widely  varying  standards  of 
teaching  requirements  characterize  the  educational  policies  of  the 
majority  of  states  and  cities.  It  is  a  testimony  to  the  unexplored 
problems  of  providing  adequately  trained  teachers  for  commercial 
courses  that  no  study  of  the  needs  and  possibilities  of  commercial 
teacher-training  has  been  pubhshed  up  to  the  present  time.  The 
following  conditions  exist  at  present:  {a)  a  policy  of  expediency,  (b) 
lack  of  standardization  in  requirements  and,  (c)  confusion  as  to  what 
educational  institution  should  assume  the  responsibility  for  preparing 
teachers. 

Under  the  pressure  of  securing  teachers,  school  authorities  have 
turned  to  various  sources.  From  business  schools  have  been  secured 
teachers  thoroughly  trained  in  shorthand,  typewriting,  sometimes 
bookkeeping  and  penmanship  supported  by  a  high-school  education 
and  possibly  in  addition  a  normal-school  training.  This  group  has 
served  best  under  existing  circumstances  to  teach  the  "technique" 
courses.  From  the  business  world  have  been  obtained  men  and 
women  with  office  or  selling  experience,  whose  knowledge  of  actual 
business,  rather  than  their  specific  educational  requirements,  has  been 
their  qualification  to  teach  commercial  courses.  Finally,  a  third  source 
has  been  teachers  of  other  subjects,  who,  because  of  the  decrease  in 
popularity  of  certain  courses,  as  German  and  the  classics,  and  the 
attractiveness  of  higher  salaries  offered  to  commercial  teachers,  have 
been  willing  to  change  their  work.  It  is  thus  evident  that  the 
qualifications  of  commercial  instructors  vary  greatly  in  respect  to 
experience,  educational  training,  and,  as  a  result,  outlook. 

When  uniformity  is  so  utterly  lacking  in  the  methods  of  securing 
teachers,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  standardization  of  require- 
ments is  to  be  found.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  certain  states  and  cities, 
where  commercial  education  has  assumed  great  importance,  have 
developed  regulations  to  be  observed  in  selecting  commercial  teachers. 
But  in  many  instances  these  have  been  set  aside  where  their  observa- 
tion would  prevent  the  procuring  of  a  sufficient  number  to  fill  the 
school  needs.  Other  states  have  not  found  it  necessary  to  differ- 
entiate their  requirements  for  commercial  teachers  from  those  for 
other  teachers,  or  else  have  included  them  under  the  group  called 
"Special."     Certain  cities,  as  Milwaukee,  decide  each  case  on  its 

has  been  making  a  series  of  investigations  of  teacher-training  by  means  of 
questionnaires. 


536  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

individual  merits.  The  one  generalization  applicable  to  the  country 
as  a  whole  is  that  the  requirements  are  moderate  and  where  existing 
are  often  unobserved  by  individual  cities. 

With  so  urgent  a  need  for  offering  means  of  preparing  teachers 
for  commercial  work,  various  educational  institutions  have  attempted 
to  take  over  the  task  of  training.  The  undertaking  of  the  work  by 
colleges  and  universities,  normal  schools,  and  special  training  schools 
accounts  for  the  confusion  that  exists  as  to  which  of  these  is  best 
equipped  to  do  the  work,  and  what  should  be  the  aim  of  the  training 
offered.  Universities  give  a  more  comprehensive  training  in  the 
social  sciences  than  normal  schools,  but  they  have  just  begun  to  organ- 
ize teacher-training  courses  in  this  field.  Normal  schools  are  only 
beginning  to  broaden  the  nature  of  the  courses  to  include  something 
more  than  training  in  routine  business  procedure.  A  statement  by 
F.  G.  Nichols,  shortly  before  he  left  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational 
Education,  indicates  the  situation  as  he  saw  it: 

"While  more  than  thirty  state  normal  schools  profess  to  give 
courses  for  the  training  of  commercial  teachers,  not  more  than  six 
are  really  making  a  serious  attempt  to  train  such  teachers  for  our 
public  schools.  In  practically  all  of  them  except  this  small  group  of 
six^  the  commercial  department  is  run  more  like  a  business  college. 
The  courses  are  open  to  those  who  desire  training  for  office  work  as 
well  as  to  those  who  desire  to  prepare  for  commercial  teaching.  The 
consequence  is  that  the  former  group  is  much  larger  than  the  latter 
group,  and  the  instruction  is  based  upon  the  needs  of  office  workers 
almost  entirely.  Furthermore,  only  a  negligible  number  who  com- 
plete the  normal-school  courses  in  commercial  subjects  ever  become 
teachers;  practically  all  of  them  accept  business  positions  upon 
graduation." 

Special  schools  for  training  teachers  of  selling  and  merchandising 
perform  a  limited  service.  The  Prince  School  of  Education  for  Store 
Service  at  Boston,  Massachusetts,  which  is  affiliated  with  Harvard 
University,  is  the  leader  of  this  work.  The  aim  of  these  schools, 
however,  is  so  highly  specialized  that  they  cannot  be  considered  as 
an  influential  group  of  commercial-teacher-training  agencies. 

It  may  well  be  asked,  following  so  unproductive  an  examination 
of  the  present  possibilities  of  commercial  teacher-training,  what  hope 

^  State  Normal  School  at  Salem,  Mass.;  State  Normal  School  at 
Whitewater,  Wis.;  State  Normal  School  at  Plattsburg,  New  York;  State 
Normal  College  at  Trenton,  N.J.;  State  Normal  College  at  Albany,  N.Y.; 
State  Normal  School  at  Willimantic,  Conn. 


POSTGRADUATE  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  537 

exists  for  improvement.  Two  movements,  while  of  modest  pro- 
portions, indicate  an  enlightened  attitude.  A  modification  of  the 
high-school  curriculmn  is  likely  to  occur  through  the  general  interest 
that  has  been  aroused  in  the  desirability  of  courses  in  the  social 
sciences.  A  direct  effort  is  being  made  by  such  groups  as  the  National 
Association  of  Collegiate  Schools  of  Business,  the  American  Economic 
Association,  and  the  committees  of  the  National  Education  Asso- 
ciation to  improve  the  standards  of  the  high-school  curriculum. 
These  efforts  may  very  well  influence  the  character  of  training  given 
to  secondary-school  teachers.  There  is  the  possibility  of  shifting 
the  emphasis  from  teachers  of  shorthand,  typewriting,  and  bookkeep- 
ing, to  teachers  of  industrial  society  and  elementary  economics,  if 
not  to  socialize  the  entire  viewpoint  of  instructors  of  commercial 
courses.  In  this  connection  the  interest  of  the  commercial  advisers 
of  high  school  in  raising  the  requirements  of  teachers  in  their  depart- 
ment may  be  another  note  of  encouragement. 

What  other  hope  for  commercial  teacher-training  exists  is  to  be 
found  in  the  introduction  of  courses  on  commercial  education  in 
universities.  In  the  past  there  has  been  little  correlation  between 
business  courses  and  educational  courses.  But  there  are  appearing 
at  present  definite  courses  in  commercial  education  which  aim  to 
present  the  development  of  commercial  education,  its  relation  to 
business,  and  the  problems  peculiar  to  this  type  of  training.  Such 
projects  are  significant  particularly  for  the  influence  they  may  exert 
in  stimulating  a  broader  interest  in  commercial  education  and  the 
suggestions  they  may  give  to  other  institutions  to  follow  along  similar 
lines.  By  giving  a  taste  of  the  newer  concept  of  commercial  educa- 
tion to  teachers  attending  summer  sessions  of  universities,  an  appetite 
may  be  whetted  which  will  be  possible  of  satisfying  only  through 
the  reorganization  of  the  existing  program  of  conunercial  teacher- 
training  institutions.       * 

FORMS  OF  TEACHER  TRAINING  NEEDED 

There  are  at  least  five  phases  of  teacher  traming  that  need 
development  and  that  should  be  undertaken  by  schools  that 
wish  to  work  toward  a  well-rounded  program  of  business- 
teaching  education. 

I.  Commercial  teachers  have  in  the  past  approached  their 
work  with  almost  no  understanding  of  its  social  significance 
and  implications.    They  have  seldom  had  an  opportunity  to 


538  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

see  the  type  of  institution  in  which  they  worked  in  relation  to 
other  types.  The  result,  frequently,  has  been  a  misconception 
of  objectives  or  no  thinking  at  all  in  terms  of  purposes.  There 
is  need,  therefore,  as  the  basis  of  teacher  trainmg,  of  a  course 
concerned  with  the  purposes  and  agencies  of  business  education. 
On  such  an  introductory  course  specialized  courses  can  be 
soundly  and  intelligently  built. 

2.  There  is  need  of  studies  and  courses  in  the  technical 
subjects  of  business  education.  As  has  been  pointed  out  in 
earlier  sections,  no  one  knows  the  best  length  of  time  in  which 
to  give  courses  in  stenography,  typewriting,  machine  operating, 
and  similar  techniques.  No  one  knows  with  any  certainty 
whether  one  age  is  better  than  another  for  such  work.^  Studies 
throwing  light  on  these  matters  would  be  valuable  for  whatever 
agency  could  best  give  courses  in  the  subjects  concerned. 
Certain  agencies,  for  example,  the  high  school,  which  have  spent 
too  much  time  in  such  work,  have  more  to  gain  than  any  other 
institutions  if  it  can  be  shown  that  the  advantage  lies  with 
giving  these  courses  concentratedly.^  Such  a  conclusion  would 
open  a  large  part  of  the  high-school  course  for  other  work. 

On  such  a  basis  courses  in  the  technique  of  teaching  the 
technical  subjects  would  and  should  be  developed.  Even 
though  the  high  schools  were  to  give  little  of  such  work  the 

'  In  this  connection  George  E.  Freeland,  "A  Year's  Study  of  the  Daily 
Learning  of  Six  Children"  is  interesting.  Freeland,  experimenting  with 
pupils  in  the  sixth  grade  and  below,  concluded  that  the  older  pupils  learned 
most  rapidly  and  retained  the  results  best.  He  expressed  the  belief  that 
class  work  below  the  fifth  grade  would  be  impossible  but  that  so  far  as 
subject-matter  is  concerned  typewriting  could  l&egin  in  that  grade.  This 
study  may  be  foimd  in  the  Pedagogical  Summary,  XXVIII  (June,  192 1), 
97-115- 

2  Although  a  scientific  study  has  not  been  made,  the  weight  of  evidence 
already  leans  well  toward  concentration  and  the  late  rather  than  the  early 
years  of  adolescence.  Experience  with  postgraduate  courses  is  supported 
by  business  college  history.  The  advantage  the  high-school  graduate  has 
had  over  the  student  from  the  business  college  has  never  been  in  mere 
technique.  When  the  business  college  student  has  been  a  high-school 
graduate  first,  the  advantage  has  been  the  other  way.  The  moral  is  apparent 
that  what  is  needed  is  more  general  training  of  a  useful  type. 


POSTGRADUATE  COMMERCIAL  COURSES  539 

normal  schools  could  very  properly  train  teachers  who  could 
function  in  business  colleges,  continuation  schools,  postgraduate 
courses  and  the  like.  This  will  be  a  lorm  of  practical  training, 
which,  on  broader  courses,  can  be  usefully  done  by  normal 
schools. 

3.  A  third  type  of  teacher  training  needed  is  instruction 
which  will  give  candidates  for  commercial  teaching  a  large 
amount  of  content  material  of  the  sort  now  available  in  the 
better  collegiate  schools  of  business.  The  material  is  that 
which  makes  clear  the  social  setting  of  business  and  depicts  the 
social  structures  in  terms  of  which  the  business  manager^s 
work  is  conducted.  Textbooks  of  a  character  which  will  be 
useful  for  high-school  purposes  must  be  developed  but  such 
books  cannot  yield  their  greatest  service  without  the  support 
of  understanding  teachers. 

4.  The  material  for  presenting  this  new  social  science  will 
be  at  best  imperfect  in  its  first  forms  and  studies  in  the  methods 
of  teaching  the  ideas  involved  will  be  valuable.  This  will 
include  not  only  classroom  devices  but  possibilities  of  correlation 
with  other  subjects  so  that  such  courses  may  be  made  the  core 
and  the  core  only  of  a  well-correlated,  broadly  inclusive 
curriculum. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  What  is  the  postgraduate  commercial  course  or  concentrated 
technical  course  ? 

2.  Outline  the  matters  which  would  need  to  be  planned  in  installing 
such  a  course  in  any  high  school  with  which  you  are  familiar. 

3.  Can  such  postgraduate  or  concentrated  courses  in  technical  sub- 
jects properly  be  given  only  to  graduates  of  high-school  commercial 
courses  ?  Can  they  properly  be  given  to  aU  high-school  graduates  ? 
Can  they  properly  be  given  to  all  members  of  the  Senior  class  in 
the  commercial  course  ?  Can  they  properly  be  given  earlier  than 
the  Senior  year  to  students  who  could  not  long  remain  in  school  ? 

4.  If  all  students  in  the  commercial  course  were  assured  that  they 
could  secure  thorough  training  in  one  or  two  technical  subjects  in 
not  more  than  a  year  of  postgraduate  work,  would  many  of  them 
be  interested  in  more  general  types  of  work  while  in  high  school  ? 


540  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

5.  If  the  high-school  commercial  course  successfully  gave  in  its  Senioi 
year  adequate  training  in  one  or  two  technical  subjects,  what  would 
be  done  with  the  students  during  the  preceding  three  years? 
What  woidd  you  suggest  ? 

6.  Outline  what  seem  to  you  the  advantages  to  a  city  of  a  supervisor 
of  commercial  education.  Would  it  appear  to  you  that  a  super- 
visor could  properly  undertake  training  of  teachers  ? 

7.  Outline  the  duties  which  seem  to  you  could  be  performed  to  ad- 
vantage by  the  state  supervisor  of  commercial  education.  Could 
such  a  supervisor  properly  be  active  in  organizing  teacher  training  ? 

8.  What  appear  to  be  the  general  characteristics  of  the  training 
generally  required  of  conamercial  teachers  ? 

9.  Summarize  the  forces  which  seem  to  promise  improved  oppor- 
tunity for  commercial  teachers'  training. 

10.  What  possibilities  for  assistance  lie  in  the  commercial  service  of 
the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education  ? 

1 1 .  Examine  each  of  the  four  possible  phases  of  teacher  training  out- 
lined at  the  conclusion  of  the  chapter.  Be  prepared  to  discuss 
each. 

12.  Does  it  seem  to  you  that  the  amount  of  commercial  teacher 
training  now  available  should  be  increased  ?  If  so,  what  agencies 
should  offer  it  ? 


PART  IV 

HIGH-SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL-CURRICULUM 
REFORM 


CHAPTER  XXI 

A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS 

In  this  section  we  are  concerned  with  what  should  be  done 
to  make  the  best  possible  curriculum  for  the  commercial  course 
in  a  secondary  school.  If  what  should  be  done  is  more  than 
what  can  be  done  immediately,  we  are  also  interested  in  know- 
ing what  can  be  done  with  materials  existing  at  present. 

This  task  breaks  more  or  less  logically  into  a  double  under- 
taking. It  will  be  worth  while,  first,  to  examine  the  important 
proposals  for  improving  the  high-school  commercial  curriculum 
which  have  been  made  up  to  the  present  time,  and  to  consider 
these  in  the  light  of  the  study  which  we  have  been  making  in 
this  volume.  Second,  we  must  draw  definite  conclusions  from 
our  study  and  on  the  basis  of  those  conclusions  answer  the 
questions,  what  should  and  what  can  be  done  with  the  high- 
school  commercial  course. 

THE  COMMITTEE   OF  NINE 

We  can  recall  from  earlier  chapters  that  the  commercial 
course  did  not  make  a  serious  entrance  into  secondary  schools 
until  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteen  hundreds.  It  is  natural 
enough,  therefore,  that  we  do  not  find  a  definite  effort  by  second- 
ary educators  to  outKne  the  commercial  course  until  after  1900. 
In  July,  1 90 1,  at  the  Detroit  meeting  of  the  National  Education 
Association  a  resolution  was  moved  for  the  appointment  of  a 
Committee  of  Nine  to  report  on  commercial  education  in  high 
schools.  The  course  outhned  by  this  Committee  of  Nine  was 
presented  in  Boston,  1903.  The  curriculum  proposed,  together 
with  certain  statements  of  the  Committee,  were  as  follows:^ 

The  course  of  study  should  be  four  years  in  length. 
The  paramount  factor  in  shaping  commercial  courses  in  public 
schools  should  be  the  welfare  of  the  student  who  goes  directly  from 

'  Commercial  Education  in  High  Schools,  pp.  5-7.  University  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  College  Department,  Bulletin  23,  1903. 

543 


544 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESt 


the  high  school  to  his  life  work.  It  is  expected,  however,  that  such 
courses  will  provide  a  training  of  such  a  character  as  will  fit  the  student 
completing  them  to  enter  the  schools  of  commerce  and  industry  now 
being  established  by  many  colleges  and  universities,  as  well  as  other 
modem  courses  in  colleges  and  imiversities. 

We  beheve  that  where  possible  separately  organized  commercial 
schools  are  advisable;  but  we  realize  that  in  the  great  majority  of 
places  the  work  must  be  given  in  regular  public  high  schools  as  one 
of  the  several  courses  thereof. 


COMMERCIAL  COURSE  FOR  HIGH   SCHOOLS 


FIRST 

YEAR 

First  Half 

Second  Half 

Recitations 

Recitations 

■ 

a  Week 

a  Week 

EngUsh 

4 

English                                   4 

German,     French,     or 

Same    Language    con- 

Spanish 

5 

tinued                                 5 

Algebra 

5 

Algebra                                  s 

Bookkeeping 

3 

General  History  to  800 

Drawing 

3 

A.D.                                              4 

Penmanship 

3 

Bookkeeping                          3 

rrr     j      1 

— 

Penmanship                           2 

Total 


23 


Total 


23 


SECOND 

YEAR 

First  Half 

Second  Half 

History  of  English  Lit- 

History of  English  Lit- 

erature; Composition 

3 

erature,   Commercial 

Modem  Language  con- 

Correspondence 

3 

tinued 
Commercial  Arithmetic 

5 
5 

Modem  Language  con- 
.tinued 

5 

Study    of    Commercial 
Products    or    Local 
History    and    Indus- 
tries 

5 

EngUsh  and  European 
History 

Commercial  Geography 

5 
5 

Bookkeeping 

S 

Typewriting 

S 

Total 


23 


Total 


23 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS     545 


THIRD   YEAR 

First  Half 

Second  Half 

] 

Recitations 

Recitations 

a  Week 

a  Week 

Rhetoric  and  Composi- 

Plane Geometry 

5 

tion 

3 

Physics    or   Chemistry 

United  States  History 

5 

continued 

5 

Physics  or  Chemistry 

5 

Commercial  Law 

4 

Bookkeeping  and  Office 

Political  Economy 

4 

Practice 

5 

Election*  of   first   half 

Foreign  Language*  con- 

continued 

5 

tinued      or     Second 

—" 

Modem  Language  or 

Total 

23 

Shorthand  and  Type- 

writing 

s 

Total 


23 


FOURTH  YEAR 


First  Half 
English   Literature, 
Themes     and     Par- 
liamentary Practice  5 
History  of  Commerce  5 
13  periods  to  be  selected  from: 
Language  elected  con- 
tinued or  shorthand 
and  typewriting  con- 
tinued                            5 
Physics    or    Chemis- 
try S 
Banking  and  Finance        5 
Solid  Geometry  5 
Mechanical  Drawing        5 


Second  Half 
English  continued  5 

Civil  Government  5 

13  periods  to  be  selected  from: 
Same    election    con- 
tinued 5 
Physics  or  Chemistry 

continued  5 

Accounting,    Organiza- 
tion and  Auditing  5 
Advanced    Commer- 
cial Arithmetic  and 
Applied  arithmetic        5 
Advertising,  Study  of 
Trade       Journals, 
and      Commercial 
English                           5 
Office      Work      for 
Stenographers  5 


*  Those  who  do  not  desire  to  continue  studying  a  foreign  language  or  to  take  up  short- 
hand may  substitute  one  of  the  electives  mentioned  for  the  fourth  year. 


546  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Commercial  courses  will  include  many  subjects  now  taught  in 
public  high  schools,  though  the  methods  of  presentation  in  some 
cases  may  not  be  those  best  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  business 
student.  We  realize  that  in  most  schools  it  will  not  be  possible  to 
organize  separate  classes  in  those  subjects  with  methods  specially 
modified  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  commercial  students 

On  pages  544  and  545  is  shown  an  outHne  of  a  four-year  commercial 
high-school  course.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  it  does  not  follow  exactly 
the  original  plan  submitted  by  any  member  of  the  Committee. 
Neither  is  it  expected  that  it  will  suit  every  commercial  teacher  or 
public-school  superintendent.  It  is  hoped  that  it  may  be  of  service 
to  all,  in  that  it  is  suggestive.  Allowances  must  be  made  for  local 
conditions  and  the  personal  equation. 

This  report  included  an  extensive  supplement  in  which  a 
careful  discussion  was  given  to  particular  subjects  proposed  in 
the  outlined  curriculum.  Languages,  sciences,  history  and  com- 
merce, mathematical  subjects,  and  technical  business  studies 
were  all  the  objects  of  detailed  treatment. 

The  report  was,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  an  interesting  document, 
especially  in  the  amount  of  academic  and  social-science  subjects 
proposed.  In  the  first  half  of  the  first  year,  for  example,  there 
are  fourteen  recitation  hours  a  week  suggested  for  such  subjects 
as  compared  with  nine  for  technical  subjects.  In  the  second 
half  of  the  first  year  the  proportion  is  even  greater — eighteen 
hours  for  general  subjects  as  compared  with  five  for  technical 
work.  A  proportion  comparable  to  this  runs  throughout  the 
course.  In  the  second  year  only  five  out  of  twenty-three  hours 
are  given  over  to  technical  subjects.  In  the  third  year  five,  or, 
if  a  student  elected,  ten  out  of  a  total  of  twenty-three  are  tech- 
nical subjects  in  the  first  haK.  In  the  second  half  of  the  third 
year,  eighteen  of  the  twenty-three  hours  were  necessarily  to 
be  general  subjects  and  the  entire  twenty-three  might  be  if 
the  student  so  elected.  Again  in  the  fourth  year  it  was  made 
possible  for  the  student  entirely  to  avoid  technical  subjects, 
and  to  elect  some  such  general  studies  of  business  as  banking 
and  finance,  accounting,  organization,  and  auditing,  advertising, 
study  of  trade  journals  and  commercial  English. 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    547 

It  is  worth  while  to  compare  the  amount  of  general  training 
which  it  would  be  possible  for  a  student  to  acquire  who  pursued 
this  course  with  the  amount  which  can  be  obtained  in  the  typical 
commercial  course  at  the  present  time.  It  will  be  interesting 
also  to  compare  it  with  some  of  the  later  proposals  and  to  note 
the  tendency  for  the  inclusion  of  an  increased  amount  of  tech- 
nical subjects  and  a  decreased  amount  of  general  subjects.  It 
is  only  when  we  come  to  view  the  more  recent  proposals  for 
revising  the  commercial  curriculum  that  we  find  so  large  an 
amount  of  general  subject-matter  suggested.  The  ultra- 
modern appearance  of  this  course  is  probably  due  to  different 
causes  than  those  which  now  urge  renewed  emphasis  on  social- 
science  and  general  subjects  for  business  training.  In  1903  the 
typical  high  school  was  the  cultural  high  school.  Its  curriculum 
was  in  large  part  an  imitation  of  the  coUege  curriculum.  The 
general  subjects  enumerated  were  probably,  therefore,  thought 
of  as  similar  to  general  subjects  of  the  same  nature  given  in 
colleges.  The  technical  subjects  had  not,  in  1903,  dominated 
the  cultural  subjects  simply  because  they  were  meeting  with 
resistance  from  the  established  regime.  This  ultra-modern- 
looking  course  was,  moreover,  more  ultra-modern  in  looks  than 
in  content.  The  modern  emphasis  on  general  studies  in  the 
high-school  commercial  course  is  based  on  something  else  than 
imitation  of  the  college,  and  general  studies  are  now  proposed 
which  are  quite  different  from  the  general  studies  in  the  high 
schools  of  1903. 

The  report  of  the  Committee  of  Nine  was  made  the  subject 
of  general  discussion  in  the  1904  meeting  of  the  National  Educa- 
tion Association.  Some  of  the  comments  made  upon  it  were 
interesting.  It  was  considered  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
independent  school  of  commerce  by  James  J.  Sheppard,  of  the 
New  York  High  School  of  Commerce.  Agreeing  in  general 
with  the  conclusions  of  the  Committee,  he  expressed  great 
interest  in  enriching  the  earlier  years,  especially  the  first  year 
of  the  course.  Superintendent  Bertrand  Parker,  of  the  Rock- 
ford  (Illinois)  High  School  considered  the  course  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  general  high  school.    His  objections  to  the  proposed 


548 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


curriculum  included  *' little  faith  in  the  plan  which  provides  for 
recitations  one,  two,  or  three  times  per  week";  a  statement 
that  "  the  study  of  American  Uterature  should  run  through  the 
third  year";  the  beHef  that  "the  time  allowed  for  each  sepa- 
rate course  [in  history]  should  be  doubled,  and  the  history  work 
be  continuous  throughout  the  four  years."  Superintendent 
Parker  concluded  his  criticism  with  the  following  outline  which 
he  proposed  as  a  modification  of  the  course  submitted  by  the 
Committee  of  Nine: 


First  Half 
English 
Algebra 

Modem  Language 
Ancient  History 
Penmanship 


FIRST  YEAS 

Second  Hal} 
English 
Algebra 

Modem  Language 
Ancient  History 
Commercial  Arithmetic 


SECOND   YEAR 


First  Half 
English 
Medieval   and   Modern   History, 

English  trend 
Modem  Language 
Physiography 
Plane  Geometry 
Bookkeeping  (double  period) 


Second  Half 
English 
Medieval    and    Modern   History, 

English  trend 
Modem  Language 
Physiography 
Plane  Geometrj' 
Bookkeeping  (double  period) 
Stenography  and  Typewriting 


THIRD  YEAR 


First  Half 


Corn- 


American   Literature   and 

position 
United  States  History  and  Civics 
Modem  Language 
Commercial  Products 
Physics 

Office  Practice  (double  period) 
Stenography  and  Typewriting 


Second  Half 


American  Literature  and  Com- 
position 

United  States  History  and  Civics 

Modem  Language 

Commercial  Geography 

Physics 

Accounting,  Auditing,  etc. 
(double  period) 

Stenography  and  Typewriting 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS     549 

FOUETH   YEAR 

First  Half  Second  Half 

English  Literature  and  Composi-  English  Literature  and  Composi- 
tion tion 

History  of  Commerce  Political  Economy 

Modem  Language  Modem  Language 

Commercial  Law  Advertising,  and  Study  of  Trade 
Chemistry  Joumals 

Stenography  and  Typewriting  Chemistry 

Free-hand      Drawing      (double  Stenography  and  Typewriting 

period)  Free-hand      Drawing      (double 

period) 

Note. — ^The  studies  italicized  are  required. 

An  examination  of  this  outline  will  show  that  while  there  is 
an  increased  amount  of  technical  study  required,  it  would  be 
impossible  for  the  student  working  through  these  courses  to 
escape  without  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  physical  and  social 
environment  in  which  he  lived,  provided  the  subject-matter  of 
the  courses  was  appropriate  to  the  titles. 

A  SECOND  PROPOSAL  OF  THE  NATIONAL  EDUCATION 
ASSOCIATION 

It  was  not  until  19 15  that  the  National  Education  Associa- 
tion made  a  second  pronouncement  upon  the  curriculum  for 
commercial  work  in  secondary  schools.  A  scrutiny  of  the  course 
then  suggested  shows  at  once  what  had  been  occurring  in 
this  field  of  educational  work.  The  commercial  course  in  high 
schools  had  "come  into  its  own, "  and  in  that  commercial  course 
the  technical  subjects  were  now  understood  to  be  the  important 
ones  around  which  the  course  should  be  built. 

The  new  proposals  were  presented  at  the  National  Education 
Association  meeting  at  Oakland,  California,  with  these  words  :^ 

The  Committee  [the  names  of  the  Committee  are  stated  in  the 
original]  have  arranged,  from  the  data  at  hand  and  obtained  in 
response  to  questionnaires  sent  out,  a  proposed  four-year  high-school 

» National  Education  Association,  Addresses  and  Proceedings,  Oak- 
land, California,  1915,  pp.  930-33- 


550 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


course,  with  two  schedules.  One  emphasizes  accounting,  and  the 
other  emphasizes  stenography  and  t)T)ewriting,  followed  by  a  group- 
ing of  required  subjects  for  several  different  vocational  courses. 
Each  course  consists  of  carrying  four  subjects  per  semester  during 
eight  semesters  of  eighteen  to  twenty  weeks,  as  shown  m  Table 
LXII. 

TABLE  LXII 


Course  in 
Accounting 

Course  in 
Stenography 

Required  of  all  students 

Required  in  vocational  courses. . 
Electives 

Units 

14 

7 

II 

Units 

14 

8 

10 

Total         .     .         

32 

32 

Note. — A  unit  is  a  week's  work  of  five  daily  forty-five-minute  periods 
with  an  equal  amount  of  home  work  carried  during  one  semester  of  not  less 
than  eighteen  weeks,  or  five  daily  ninety-minute  periods  of  laboratory  work 
without  home  assignment. 


The  subjects  are  grouped  first  aroimd  two  main  vocational  subjects: 
(i)  accoimting,  (2)  stenography.  But  within  each  of  these  groups 
there  will  be  one  class  of  students  who  expect  to  make  their  major 
a  life-work  (Groups  i  and  4),  and  another  class  which  selects  it  as  a 
stepping-stone  to  some  other  occupation  (Groups  2,  3,  5,  and  6). 
Hence  a  system  of  grouping  of  the  electives  is  recommended.  It  is 
recommended  also  that  apprenticeship  in  stenography,  salesmanship, 
or  bookkeeping  be  encouraged  and  given  one  semester  credit  in  Groups 
I  and  4,  providing  the  subject  is  taken  imder  strict  supervision  of  the 
instructor. 

SUBJECTS  REQUIRED   IN   BOTH 
COURSES 


Units 

English 

8 

Bookkeeping 

2 

Penmanship 

2 

Commercial  Arithmetic 

I 

Commercial  Geography 

1 

14 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    551 


ADDITIONAL   SUBJECTS   REQUIRED 
IN  THE  ACCOUNTING   COURSE 


ADDITIONAL   SUBJECTS   REQUIRED 
IN  1"HE  STENOGRAPHY  COURSE 


Units 

Units 

Bookkeeping 

2 

Stenography 

4 

Economics 

I 

Typewriting 

_4 

Salesmanship 

I 

ft 

Commercial  Law 

I 

0 

History  and  Civics 

2 

SUGGESTED   ELECTIVE  GROUPS 


Units 

Group    I.    GflBce   Training 
for  Accountants 

Accounting  2 
Advanced  salesmanship  i 
Advanced  Economics  i 
Apprenticeship  in  Book- 
keeping or  Salesmanship  i 
Select  5 


Units 


Group   4.    Ofl&ce   Training 
for  Stenographers 

Advanced  Stenography 
and  Tjrpewriting;  Man- 
ifolding 

Office  Training 

Apprenticeship  in  Stenog- 
raphy 

Select 


Group  2.    Mechanic  Arts 

Algebra  II 
Manual  Training 
Mechanical  Drawing 
Geometry 


2 

4 
2 
2 

10 


Group  5.    Domestic  Science 
and  Art 

Domestic  Science  and  Art    4 
Drawing  i 

Select  I 

"6 


Group  3.    Agriculture 

Chemistry  4 

Agriculture  4 

Botany  and  Zoology  2 


Group  6.    General  Electives 

Modem  Languages  4 

History  4 

Science  2 

Typewriting  4 


H 


552 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


National  Education  Association  Course 

commercial  course — ^emphasizing  accounting 
first  year 


First  Semester 


English 
Penmanship 
*Elective 


5 
5 

lO 
20 


Second  Semester 


English 
Penmanship 
*Elective: 


5 
5 

lO 
20 


fManual  Training  5 
fDomestic   Science 

and  Art  5 

Agriculture  5 

Modem  Language  5 

Algebra  5 


fManual  Training 
fDomestic   Science 
and  Art 

Agriculture 

Modem  Language 

Algebra 


SECOND   YEAR 


First  Semester 

English 
fBookkeeping 

Commercial  Arithmetic 
*Elective: 


5 

5 

S 

_5 

20 


Second  Semester 


English 
fBookkeeping 

Commercial  Geography 
*Elective: 


5 

5 

5 

_5 

20 


fManual  Training  5 
fDomestic   Science 

and  Art  5 

Agriculture  5 

Modem  Language  5 

Plane  Geometry  5 


fManual  Training 
fDomestic   Science 

and  Art 
Agriculture 
Modem  Language 
Plane  Geometry 


Note. — ^All  general  subjects  are  treated  in  relation  to  commerce  so  far 
practicable.    English  includes  public  speaking 

*  See  suggested  elective  groups, 
t  Double  periods. 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    553 


First  Semester 

THIKD 

YEAR 

Second  Semester 

English 

5 

English 

S 

fBookkeeping 

5 

fBookkeeping 

5 

♦Elective: 

10 

Commercial  Law 

5 

20 

♦Elective: 

5 

Stenography 

5 

20 

fTj^ewriting 

5 

Stenography 

5 

Chemistry 

5 

fTypewritmg 

5 

Physics 

5 

Chemistry 

5 

History 

5 

FOURTB 

Physics 
History 

[  YEAR 

5 
5 

First  Semester 

Second  Semester 

Business  English 

5 

Business  English 

S 

American  History 

5 

Civics 

5 

Economics 

5 

Salesmanship 

5 

♦Elective: 

J 
20 

♦Elective: 

__5 
20 

Stenography 

5 

Stenography 

5 

fTypewriting 

5 

fTypewritmg 

5 

fBookkeeping 

5 

fBookkeepmg 

5 

Office  Trainmg 

5 

Office  Training 

5 

COMMERCIAL   COURSE— EMPHASIZING   STENOGRAPHY 

FIRST 

YEAR 

First  Semester 

Second  Semester 

English 

5 

English 

5 

Penmanship 

5 

Penmanship 

5 

♦Elective: 

10 
20 

♦Elective: 

10 
20 

fManual  Training 

5 

fManual  Training 

5 

fDomestic   Science 

fDomestic   Science 

and  Art 

5 

and  Art 

5 

Modem  Language 

5 

Modem  Language 

5 

Drawing 

5 

Drawing 

5 

Note. — All  general  subjects  are  treated  in  relation  to  commerce  so  far 
as  practicable.    English  includes  public  speaking. 

*  See  suggested  elective  groups. 
t  Double  periods. 


554 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


SECOND   YEAR 


First  Semester 

English 
tBookkeeping 

Commercial  Arithmetic 
*Elective: 

fManual  Training 
fDomestic   Science 
and  Art 

Modem  Language 

Drawing 


5 

5 

5 

_S 

20 


Second  Semester 

English 
tBookkeeping 

Commercial  Geography 
*Elective: 

fManual  Training 
fDomestic   Science 
and  Art 

Modem  Language 

Drawing 


5 
5 

5 

_5 

20 


THIRD   YEAR 


First  Semester 

English 

Stenography 
fTypewriting 
*Elective: 

f  Bookkeeping 
fDomestic   Science 
and  Art 

History 

General  Elective 


5 
5 

5 

20 


Second  Semester 


English  5 

Stenography  5 

fTypewriting  5 

*Elective:  5 

20 
f  Bookkeeping  5 

fDomestic   Science 

and  Art  5 

History  5 

Commercial  5 


First  Semester 
Business  English 
Stenography 

fTypewriting 

*Elective: 

Economics 
Ofl5ce  Training 
American  History 
General  Elective 


FOURTH   YEAR 

Second  Semester 
Business  English 
Stenography 

fTypewriting 

*Elective: 


5 

5 

5 

_5 

20 


Salesmanship 
Office  Traming 
Civics 
Apprenticeship 


5 

5 

5 

_5 

20 


Note. — All  general  subjects  are  treated  in  relation  to  commerce  so  far 
as  practicable.     English  includes  public  speaking. 

*  See  suggested  elective  groups, 
t  Double  periods. 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    555 

In  these  courses,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out,  it  is  the 
technical  work  which  is  emphasized,  one  of  them  being  built 
with  its  emphasis  on  accounting,  and  the  other  with  its  emphasis 
on  stenography.  For  those  interested  in  making  the  commerce 
course  something  more  than  a  clerk  mill,  this  proposal  of  the 
National  Education  Association  is  more  satisfactory  than  the 
courses  actually  given  in  a  great  many  high  schools.  Its 
organizers  show  certainly  an  appreciation  of  the  desirability 
of  understanding  as  well  as  skill  in  business  work.  In  the 
first  year,  for  example,  there  is  no  technical  subject  other  than 
penmanship  required,  in  either  the  accounting  or  the  steno- 
graphic courses.  In  the  second  year  a  somewhat  larger  amount 
of  technical  work  is  required,  though  in  both  this  and  the  third 
year  in  the  accounting  course  these  requirements  are  rather 
limited.  In  the  fourth  year  in  the  accounting  course  there  is 
proposed  a  fairly  extensive  range  of  general  subjects,  including 
business  English,  American  history,  economics,  civics,  and  sales- 
manship. None  of  these  subjects  are  required  in  the  fourth  year 
of  the  stenographic  course,  although  all  of  them  are  electives. 
Aside  from  the  undue  amount  of  emphasis  which  is  placed  on 
technical  work  in  this  program,  its  chief  weakness  is  its  lack 
of  definite  building  toward  anything  in  particular.  It  is  largely 
a  course  of  electives.  These  electives,  it  is  true,  are  quite  well 
selected,  but  so  far  as  is  indicated  there  is  no  thought  of  build- 
ing a  coherent  program  which  will  do  certain  definite  things  for 
the  student.  There  does  not  lie  behind  this  course  any  philos- 
ophy of  business  education,  and  there  is  no  definite  organiza- 
tion of  work  to  give  any  philosophy  reality. 

An  additional  criticism  of  this  course  which  will  be  made  by 
all  of  those  who  beHeve  that  a  notion  of  the  organization  of 
modern  society  should  be  a  part  of  each  citizen's  equipment  is 
the  limited  amount  of  social  science  in  the  lower  years  of  the 
courses.  If  one  believes  that  some  idea  of  social  structure  is 
desirable,  and  at  the  same  time  recalls  the  small  fraction  of 
the  pupils  of  the  elementary  school  which  reaches  the  fourth 
year,  he  can  hardly  find  himself  in  disagreement  with  this 
criticism. 


5S6  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

THE   REPORT   OF    IQIQ 

The  most  recent  statement  definitely  on  the  subject  of  com- 
mercial-curriculum reform  which  has  come  from  the  National 
Education  Association  is  the  report  called  Business  Education 
in  Secondary  Schools,  published  by  the  Bureau  of  Education  in 
1919.^  One  finds  in  the  introductory  pages  of  this  report  the 
very  criticism  leveled  at  the  existing  courses  in  business  educa- 
tion which  has  been  made  in  the  discussion  above:  ''Com- 
mercial work  has  hitherto  not  generally  been  organized  as  a 
curriculum  devoted  to  a  specific  object.  Instead,  it  has  been 
a  loosely  formed  group  of  elective  studies  to  which  were  added 
a  certain  number  of  vague  subjects,  and  as  such  it  has  failed  to 
give  the  unity  necessary  in  any  really  effective  system  of 
education." 

Starting  from  this  view  of  the  deficiency  of  existing  curricula 
and  the  proposals  of  the  past,  the  report  continues: 

In  a  general  way,  commercial  education  up  to  the  present  has 
attempted  to  meet  four  distinct  business  needs: 

First,  and  most  definite  of  these,  is  the  training  of  stenographers; 
and  second,  is  the  training  of  bookkeepers  and  clerks  for  general 
office  work.  These  two  functions  have  heretofore  been  regarded  as 
the  full  obligation  of  commercial  education. 

Third,  the  need  that  business  education  has  recently  undertaken 
to  meet,  is  the  training  for  secretarial  work  of  those  who  have  had  a 
broader  fundamental  education  and  who  wish  to  take  more  respons- 
ible positions  than  to  be  merely  stenographers.  Stenography  and 
typewriting  are  made  elements  in  the  training  of  secretaries,  but 
to  these  are  added  munerous  other  professional  studies,  such  as 
economics,  commercial  correspondence,  buvsiness  customs,  and  busi- 
ness law. 

Fourth,  the  need  that  commercial  education  now  seeks  to  supply 
is  the  demand  for  salesmen.  This  involves  not  only  a  training  in 
the  principles  of  salesmanship,  meeting  the  public,  making  a  sale, 
etc.,  but  also  a  broader  training  in  business,  knowledge  of  merchan- 
dise, and  the  cultivation  of  taste. 

Commercial  education  should  have  a  much  wider  purpose  than 
the  training  of  stenographers  and  bookkeepers.  Already  the  broad- 
ened commercial  education  has  addressed  itself  to  the  task  of  train- 
ing for  service  in  the  community,  for  participation  in  social  life,  and 

^  This  report  was  published  as  Bulleiin,  No.  55,  1919. 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS     557 


for  knowledge  of,  and  ability  to  adapt  one's  self  to,  business  as  a 
whole.  Such  subjects  as  economics,  business  organization,  advertis- . 
ing  salesmanship,  and  store  practice  are  relatively  new,  and  yet  in 
their  entirety  they  make  a  new  purpose  of  business  education  compa- 
rable with,  if  not  more  important  than,  stenography  or  bookkeeping. 
Yoimg  people  trained  for  the  broader  and  more  professional  aspects 
of  commercial  life  have  every  prospect  of  finding  for  themselves  highly 
useful  places  in  business  as  they  demonstrate  their  fitness  for  more 
responsible  duties.  In  the  suggested  curriculum  given  below  the 
attempt  is  made  to  realize  these  purposes. 

SEVENTH  YEAR 

The  work  in  this  year  should  be  practically  the  same  as  that  of 
the  other  pupils  in  the  school.  It  should  include  EngUsh,  geogra- 
phy and  history,  arithmetic,  physiology  and  hygiene,  penmanship, 
physical  education,  household  or  industrial  arts,  drawing,  and  music. 
The  work  of  this  year  may  well  include  some  "try-outs"  projects  or 
short  unit  courses  designed  to  help  in  the  choice  of  work  for  the  follow- 
ing years.  If  such  try-out  courses  are  ofifered  they  should  be  taken 
by  all  students,  or,  at  least,  each  student  should  have  an  opportunity 
to  choose  from  a  variety  of  such  courses.  Specializing  is  out  of 
place  in  this  year. 

The  try-out  courses  above  suggested  should  serve  two  ends:  first, 
to  determine  the  interests,  aptitudes,  and  capacities  of  pupils,  and, 
second,  to  reveal  to  the  pupils  the  major  fields  of  academic  and 
vocational  interests.  Only  by  such  an  arrangement  as  is  here  recom- 
mended can  the  pupil  elect  his  curriculum  inteUigently.  These 
try-out  courses  should  at  the  same  time  have  a  content  of  assured 
educational  value. 

EIGHTH   YEAR 


Periods* 

Prepared 

Unpre- 
pared 

EngUsh  (half  the  time  devoted  to  practical  English  with  emphasis  on 

5 
S 

U  S  history                                ..                   .      ...       

Elementary  industrial  and  commercial  geography 

3 
5 

First  lessons  in  business,  including  short  daily  drills  in  business  writing 

Total 

18 

♦Length  of  periods  to  be  approximately  45  to  50  minutes.  The  committee  would  call 
attention  to  the  advantages  of  a  longer  school  day  with  longer  periods  to  include  supervised 
study,  and  a  reduced  requirement  for  the  preparation  of  lessons  outside  of  school. 


558 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


NINTH   YEAB 


Periods* 

Prepared 

Unpre- 
pared 

English 

Community  civics  (s  periods  one-half  year) 

General  sciencef 

Commercial  mathematics  (5  periods  one-half  year) 

Elementary  bnookkeeping,  business  forms  and  business 

writing. 

10 

Typewriting . . 

5 

Total 

IS 

IS 

TENTH    YEAR 


Required 

English — Selected  reading  with  oral  and  written  composition 

Bookkeeping,  intermediate 

Industrial  and  commercial  geography,  including  local  industries  and 
commercial  products 

Electives  {choose  i)X 

Shorthand  and  typewriting 

Science 

History  to  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century 

Modem  language 


S 

S 

S 
S 


*  Length  of  periods  to  be  approximately  45  to  50  minutes.  The  committee  would  call 
attention  to  the  advantages  of  a  longer  school  day  with  longer  periods  to  include  supervised 
study,  and  a  reduced  requirement  for  the  preparation  of  lessons  out  of  school. 

t  Conditions  in  some  schools  may  warrant  for  some  pupils  the  substitution  of  either 
household  arts  or  a  modem  language. 

J  Additional  electives  which  are  available  in  the  school  and  for  which  the  pupils  have 
aptitude  should  be  open  to  them.  It  is  especially  recommended  that  wherever  well- 
organized  courses  in  commercial  or  applied  art  are  offered  such  courses  be  commended  to 
commercial  students  who  may  have  aptitude  for  them. 

If  shorthand  is  not  elected,  typewriting  may  be  taken  as  an  extra 
unprepared  subject  for  5  periods. 


ELEVENTH  AND   TWELFTH   YEARS 

Beginning  with  the  eleventh  year  the  pupil's  work  should  be  more 
highly  specialized  in  one  of  the  three  following  fields:  general  busi- 
ness and  bookkeeping;  stenographic  and  presecretarial;  or  retail 
seUing  and  store  service.  To  make  the  suggestions  under  these 
heads  more  obvious  the  work  for  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  years  is 
arranged  in  three  type  curriculums.  These  curriculums  are  each 
two  years  in  length  and  include  certain  subjects  which  are  common  to 
all  the  curriculimis.  Naturally  the  studies  conunon  to  the  different 
curriculums  will  be  taught  jointly. 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    559 

General  business  and  bookkeeping  curriculum 

ELEVENTH  YEAR 


Required 
English — Selected  reading  with  oral  and  written  composition 

Office  practice 

Bookkeeping,  advanced 

Eleclives  (choose  at  least  2) 

Economic  history  since  1700 

Science  with  industrial  applications 

Modem  language 


Periods 
per  Week 


TWELFTH   YEAR 


I 

Required  i 

Business  English — theme  writing,  oral  reports,  and  commercial  correspondence,  .j 

Advanced  American  history  and  citizenship i 

Commercial  law  (5  periods  one-half  year) j 

Economics  (5  periods  one-half  year) 1 

Advanced  commercial  arithmetic I 

Business  organization,  advertising,  and  salesmanship  (or  foreign  language  ifj 
begun  earlier) 


Stenographic  and  presecretarial  curriculum 

ELEVENTH  YEAR 


Required 
English — Selected  reading  with  oral  and  written  composition 

Shorthand 

Typewriting  (transcripts) 

Office  practice 

Electives  {choose  i) 

Economic  history  since  1700 

Home  economics 

Science  with  industrial  applications 


TWELFTH   YEAR' 


Business  English — theme  writing,  oral  reports,  and  commercial  correspondence 

Advanced  American  history  and  citizenship 

Commercial  law  (5  periods  one-half  year) 

Economics  (s  periods  one-half  year) 

Secretarial  practice,  including  shorthand 

Transcription  and  typewriting 


*  It  is  strongly  urged  that  opportunity  be  found  for  part-time  work  during  the  twelfth 
year.  For  pupils  who  spend  alternate  weeks,  or  fortnights,  in  positions  the  total  time  avail- 
able in  school  will  of  necessity  be  only  one-half  that  given.  For  such  pupils  the  distribution 
of  their  work  while  in  school  may  weU  be  as  indicated  for  the  twelfth  year. 


560  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Retail  selling  and  store  service  curriculum* 

ELEVENTH  YEAR 


Required 
English — Selected  reading  with  oral  and  written  composition 
Salesmanship  and  merchandise 

Electives  (choose  2) 

Economic  history  since  1700 , 

Science  (with  industrial  applications) 

Home  economics 


Periods 
per  Week 


TWELFTH  YEAR 


Business  English — theme  writing,  oral  reports,  and  commercial  correspondence. . '  5 

Advanced  American  history  and  citizenship 1  5 

Salesmanship  and  retail  store  organization I  5 

Store  practice  and  store  mathematics I  5 


*  It  is  essential  that  pupils  following  this  curriculum  have  store  experience.  This  is 
possible  on  the  part-time  arrangement  suggested  above,  but  additional  opportunities  will 
be  found  to  get  such  experience  from  work  on  Saturdays,  in  evenings,  on  holidays,  and 
during  school  vacations. 

In  presenting  the  curriculums  above  outlined,  the  committee 
cautions  schools  against  attempting  more  than  they  can  do  credit- 
ably. Manifestly  the  small  high  school  will  not  be  able  to  differ- 
entiate in  the  threefold  manner  above  suggested.  The  specialized 
type  of  high  school  or  the  large  comprehensive  high  school  will  find 
the  curriculums  above  suggested  entirely  feasible.  The  committee 
feels,  however,  that  these  suggestions  are  of  value  even  to  those 
administering  commercial  education  in  the  small  high  school. 

The  proposals  of  this  committee  show  a  very  definite  change 
from  what  has  preceded.  In  the  first  place,  the  amount  of 
required  work  has  been  increased,  in  accordance  with  the 
notion  that  the  achievement  of  a  definite  objective  could  only 
be  accomplished  b)^  well-organized  requirements.  Second,  there 
is  the  belief  expressed  that  the  commercial  curriculum  should 
do  something  more  than  train  for  technique.  On  page  22  of 
the  report  one  finds  this  statement: 

If  commercial  training  is  to  secure  and  hold  an  honored  place 
in  education,  it  must  not  only  provide  for  the  needs  of  those  who 
must  enter  business  at  an  early  age,  but  it  must  prepare  the  largest 
possible  number  of  pupils  for  the  competitive  conditions  of  modern 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS     561 

business.  A  conclusive  argument  for  a  commercial  curriculum 
extending  through  the  full  secondary-school  period  is  found  in  the 
fact  that  the  necessary  technical  facility  and  a  reasonable  modicum 
of  general  intelligence  can  not  be  given  earlier  than  the  end  of  the 
twelfth  school  year.  The  committee  urges  that  the  rights  of  young 
people  themselves  forbid  the  introduction  of  a  short  course  of  the  kind 
which  attempts  to  fit  them  for  service  beyond  the  ability  of  the  imma- 
ture boy  or  girl,  or  which  suggests  leaving  school  before  economic 
necessity,  or  other  reasons,  compel  withdrawal.  To  give  ill-prepared 
and  immature  boys  and  girls  a  highly  specialized  training  without  a 
background  of  inteUigence  and  Ufe  interest,  and  to  rush  these  young 
people  into  business  at  an  early  age,  appears  to  the  committee  like 
exploiting  children  either  to  commercial  greed  of  employers,  or  to 
the  selfishness  and  shortsighted  prejudices  of  their  families.  It  should 
be  pointed  out  here  that  the  "needs  of  the  commimity"  can  be  best 
met  by  giving  full  regard  to  the  rights  of  young  people  themselves. 

This  realization  of  the  need  for  broader  courses  for  students 
who  contemplate  business  as  an  occupation  is  not  so  well 
expressed  in  the  proposed  curriculum  itself  as  in  the  confession 
of  faith  of  the  committee.  A  study  of  the  program  outlined 
shows  that  it  is  still  largely  dominated  by  the  notion  of  technical 
office  work.  No  social  science  is  required  in  the  first  three  years ' 
of  the  high-school  course,  with  the  exception  of  community  civics, 
five  periods,  one-half  year,  which  is  proposed  for  the  first  year. 
In  the  fourth  year  there  is  a  requirement  of  American  history, 
one-haK  year  of  commercial  law,  and  one-haK  year  of  eco- 
nomics. Requirements  of  science  are  as  meager.  Nothing  of 
science  is  required  in  the  first  three  years,  excepting  general 
science  in  the  Freshman  year.  It  is  hardly  conceivable  that 
these  limited  requirements  can  seriously  be  supposed  to  qualify 
one  for  intelligent  participation  in  business. 

One  further  comment  which  should  be  made  on  this  proposed 
course  is  the  fact  that  it  recognizes  certain  new  interests  in 
commercial  work.  The  third  and  fourth  years  are  organized 
in  two  different  ways:  in  one  instance  for  a  stenographic  and 
presecretarial  curriculum,  and  in  the  second  instance  for  retail 
selling  and  store-service  work.  This  is  the  first  time  that  a 
general  proposal  for  retail-store  selling  has  appeared. 


562  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

THE  PROPOSALS  OF  THE  FEDERAL  BOARD 

PubKshed  almost  at  the  same  time  as  the  reorganization 
report  which  we  have  just  considered  was  the  important  bulletin 
on  commercial  education  of  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational 
Education.  This  bulletin  is  in  many  ways  a  supplement  to  the 
National  Education  Association  report.  Each  document  refers 
to  the  other  as  having  such  a  relationship.  In  so  far  as  the 
report  pertains  to  the  high-school  commercial  course,  its  most 
significant  characteristic  is  its  so-called  unit  plan.  The  reason- 
ing which  is  behind  this  course  and  the  unit  plan  were  set  forth 
at  length  by  Mr.  F.  G.  Nichols,  at  that  time  the  assistant 
director  for  commercial  education  of  the  Federal  Board.  It  will 
be  worth  while  to  look  at  this  statement  in  some  detail:' 

In  this  paper  I  shall  set  forth  the  general  basic  principles  upon 
which  high  school  commercial  courses  should  be  organized;  outline 
a  course  of  study  in  accordance  with  these  principles;  and  briefly 
explain  how  such  a  course  may  be  made  to  function  so  as  to  safe- 
guard the  best  interests  of  all  concerned. 

If  commercial  education  is  to  play  its  legitimate  part  in  the  field 
of  vocational  training,  it  must  be  set  up  in  terms  of  vocational  occupa- 
'tions  which  shall  include  all  vocations  that  have  to  do  with  the 
administrative  and  distributive  phases  of  business  as  distinguished 
from  the  manual  or  productive  ones  which  comprehend  all  industrial 
occupations. 

In  the  light  of  this  interpretation  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  think 
of  commercial  courses  in  terms  of  bookkeeping  and  shorthand  only. 
It  is  necessary  to  determine  very  definitely  the  vocational  needs  in 
each  locality  and  to  provide  a  type  of  training  that  will  meet  these 
needs  most  satisfactorily.  Local  surveys  will  be  necessary  if  the 
needs  peculiar  to  each  locality  are  to  be  discovered  and  provided  for. 
While  in  a  general  way  commercial  needs  are  more  or  less  alike  in 
different  places,  it  is  true  that  commercial  development  in  any  given 
community  may  be  such  as  to  call  for  specialized  training  that  would 
not  be  needed  in  other  communities. 

^Commercial  Education,  pp.  17-29.  National  Society  for  Vocational 
Education,  April,  1919;  and  Commercial  Education,  pp.  17-21.  Federal 
Board  for  Vocational  Education,  Bulletin  34,  June,  1919.  The  courses 
outlined  are  practically  identical  in  both  instances.  The  idea  behind  the 
course  is  expressed  more  fully  in  the  first  source. 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    563 

An  analysis  of  the  commercial  positions  held  by  boys  and  girls 
in  any  city  will  reveal  the  fact  that  80  per  cent  of  the  commercial 
workers  are  employed  in  occupations  other  than  those  most  com- 
monly piovided  for  in  commercial  courses.  Many  of  these  positions 
are  of  a  more  or  less  technical  character  and  can  be  held  successfully 
only  by  those  who  have  been  trained  for  them.  Such  training  may 
be  secured  through  proper  provision  for  it  in  local  schools,  or  it  may 
be  obtained  through  experience  on  the  job.  The  one  essential  thing 
is  that  it  shall  be  obtained  somewhere  before  any  large  measure  of 
success  can  be  achieved. 

Another  very  important  factor  that  must  be  given  more  weight 
in  the  organization  of  commercial  work  is  the  age  factor  of  boys  and 
girls  who  are  available  for  this  training.  It  has  been  common 
practice  to  provide  the  same  kind  of  courses  for  students  of  varying 
ages  regardless  of  their  capacities  to  profit  by  them. 

The  time  is  ripe  for  a  careful  consideration  of  this  whole  matter. 
The  capacities  of  boys  and  girls  must  be  thoroughly  understood. 
Those  who  are  in  the  first  year  of  the  high  school  may  be  given  a 
type  of  training  designed  to  prepare  them  for  such  positions  as  they 
may  hope  to  get  and  hold  at  that  age.  A  slightly  higher  type  of 
training  may  be  offered  in  each  of  the  succeeding  years,  but  in  no  case 
should  the  training  given  be  more  advanced  than  is  required  for  the 
occupations  that  are  open  to  boys  and  girls  of  the  ages  usually  foimd 
in  the  year  in  which  such  training  is  being  offered. 

For  a  great  many  years  efforts  have  been  made  in  one  way  or 
another  to  solve  the  problem  of  high  school  mortality,  especially  in 
the  early  years  of  the  course.  Commercial  subjects  have  been  added 
in  the  third  and  fourth  years  in  the  hope  that  students  womd  remain 
to  take  them  and  thus  complete  their  high  school  education.  The 
only  tangible  effect  of  this  program  is  to  drive  students  into  the  private 
schools  before  they  have  reached  the  public  school  commercial  course. 
A  few  places  have  offered  a  two-year  course  covering  the  first  and 
second  years  of  high  school  and  consisting  very  largely  of  commercial 
subjects,  in  the  hope  that  students  might  be  held  at  least  two  years 
for  high  school  training.  This  plan  is  offered  as  a  sort  of  competition 
with  the  private  commercial  school.  In  a  few  instances  a  one-year 
course  has  been  set  up.  The  only  result  seems  to  be  an  increased 
attendance  at  private  schools. 

It  seems  to  me  that  we  must  recognize  the  fact  that  there  will 
continue  to  be  a  heavy  school  mortality  at  the  end  of  the  eighth 


564  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

year,  ninth  year  and  possibly  the  tenth  year.  We  must  also  con- 
clude that,  since  we  have  been  unable  to  remedy  this  condition,  it 
is  incumbent  upon  us  to  prepare  courses  of  study  that  will  not  only 
safeguard  the  interests  of  boys  and  girls  who  continue  to  the  end  of 
the  usual  high  school  program,  but  of  those  more  numerous  boys  and 
girls  who,  for  one  reason  or  another,  insist  upon  leaving  school  at  the 
end  of  one  of  the  earUer  years.  It  is  beheved  that  what  is  referred 
to  above  as  the  one-year  unit  plan  of  organization  will  accomplish 
this  result.  The  needs  of  boys  and  girls  who  complete  the  high  school 
course  and  of  those  who  leave  at  the  end  of  one  of  the  earlier  years 
are  not  antagonistic  to  each  other.  In  the  preparation  of  our  course 
of  study,  however,  we  recognize  that  the  vocational  needs  of  high 
school  boys  and  girls  differ  radically  as  their  ages  and  aptitudes  differ. 
In  other  words,  we  must  discover  the  positions  in  which  boys  and  girls 
of  the  eighth  school  year  age  are  employed;  those  in  which  students 
of  the  ninth  school  year  usually  find  employment;  those  that  are 
open  to  graduates  of  the  tenth  year;  and  the  more  highly  specialized 
types  of  service  for  which  high  school  graduates  should  be  well  quah- 
fied.  Recognition  of  these  varying  needs  calls  for  the  organization 
of  each  year,  beginning  with  the  eighth,  upon  an  independent  unit 
basis  with,  however,  connecting  links  that  result  in  a  unified  course 
of  study  for  those  fortunate  enough  to  complete  all  the  units  that  go 
to  make  up  the  whole. 

It  should  also  be  emphasized  at  this  point  that  in  addition  to  the 
local  day  school  facilities  for  giving  this  kind  of  training,  there  should 
be  available  to  those  who  drop  out  at  the  end  of  any  unit,  continua- 
tion school  commercial  courses  for  boys  and  girls  up  to  the  age  of 
eighteen,  and  evening  school  courses  for  those  above  eighteen  in  which 
the  training  broken  off  in  the  day  school  may  be  resumed  and 
completed. 

In  setting  up  a  suggestive  course  of  study  the  various  types  of 
school  organizations  have  been  kept  in  mind.  In  many  cities  the 
old  eight-four  plan  still  is  used;  in  others,  the  six-six  plan  is  being 
tried  out;  and  in  still  others  the  six-three- three,  or  junior  high  school 
plan,  has  been  established.  The  type  of  commercial  course  that  I 
am  suggesting  is  adaptable  to  all  three  forms  of  organization.  In 
discussing  this  course  briefly  by  years  I  shall  number  them  consecu- 
tively, beginning  with  the  seventh  and  ending  with  the  twelfth.  For 
convenience,  the  program  will  be  divided  into  elementary  and 
advanced  courses. 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    565 

JUNIOR   HIGH   SCHOOL   COMMERCIAL  COURSE 

Such  a  course  usually  has  its  foundation  in  the  seventh  year,  and 
while  no  special  provision  need  be  made  for  vocational  training  of 
boys  and  girls  of  the  seventh  school  year  age,  it  must  be  recognized 
that  it  is  in  this  year  that  the  choice  of  a  course  is  made  and  the 
foundation  for  that  course  is  laid.  For  this  reason  a  seventh  year 
outline  is  submitted,  but  it  is  not  to  be  understood  that  highly 
specialized  commercial  training  is  necessary  in  this  year. 

At  the  end  of  the  eighth  year  many  boys  and  girls  find  it  necessary 
to  leave  school  and  many  others  leave  because  of  a  desire  to  secure 
employment,  or  because  of  a  dislike  for  school  work.  Therefore,  it  is 
necessary  that  we  understand  the  positions  that  are  open  to  such 
boys  and  girls.  In  a  general  way  we  may  include  the  following  among 
the  occupations  in  which  such  boys  and  girls  are  employed:  check 
and  cash  messenger;  bundle  clerk;  shipping  clerk;  stock  clerk; 
general  clerical  assistant ;  mail  clerk ;  mimeograph  operator,  etc. 

SEVENTH    YEAR 
Subjects  Hours  per  Week 

EngUsh 5 

Arithmetic  (including  rapid  calculation) 4 

Business  Writing  (20  minutes  daily) 

Geography   (largely  place  geography  with   commercial 

applications) 5 

History,  Commercial  and  Industrial 5 

Physical  Training 2 

Physiology  and  Hygiene i 

Manual  Training  (boys) 4 

Household  Arts  (girls) 4 

EIGHTH    YEAR 

English 5 

Business  Arithmetic   (including   rapid   calculation)    (20 

minutes  daily) 5 

Business  Writing  (20  minutes  daily) 5 

Commercial  Geography  (elementary  character) 5 

History  and  Citizenship 3 

Typewriting 5 

First  Lessons  in  Business S 

Manual  Training  (boys) 4 

Domestic  Arts  (girls) 4 

Physical  Training. . .    2 


566  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

NINTH   YEAR 
Subjects  Hours  per  Week 

English  (including  simple  business  letter-writing) 5 

Commercial  Mathematics  (unprepared) 5 

Commercial  I  (including  elementary  bookkeeping,  busi- 
ness practice,  and  business  writing) to 

Typewriting  (unprepared) 5 

Science  (including  hygiene,  etc.) 5 

Physical  training 2 

Those  who  finish  the  ninth  year  wiU  find  it  possible  to  secure  posi- 
tions as  assistant  bookkeepers,  typists  and  general  office  workers — 
positions  slightly  in  advance  of  those  open  to  eighth  year  boys  and  girls. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  in  each  year's  work  an  attempt 
is  made  to  interest  the  student  to  such  an  extent  as  to  induce  him 
to  remain  in  school  for  more  advanced  training.  It  has  not  been 
found  necessary  to  eliminate  fundamental  academic  training  such  as 
English,  arithmetic,  domestic  art,  physical  training,  history,  geog- 
raphy and  science,  in  order  to  prepare  for  the  simple  vocations  for 
which  he  should  be  prepared.  It  is,  therefore,  quite  possible  for  a 
student  to  cross  over  to  almost  any  other  course  in  the  tenth  year,  if 
it  seems  best  to  do  so.  This  is  purely  incidental,  however,  and  has 
not  influenced  the  organization  of  the  course  in  any  degree. 

ADVANCED   OR  SENIOR  HIGH   SCHOOL  COMMERCIAL   COURSE 

Those  who  remain  for  the  tenth  year  in  high  school  will  find  the 
following  positions,  among  others,  open  to  them:  bookkeeping  posi- 
tions of  a  more  advanced  character  than  those  of  the  routine  type 
referred  to  as  being  open  to  graduates  of  the  ninth  year;  filing  posi- 
tions in  which  considerable  responsibility  is  placed  upon  those  who 
have  complete  charge  of  the  files;  positions  as  mail  clerks  with  full 
responsibility  for  receiving  and  distributing  the  incoming  mail  and 
preparing  and  dispatching  outgoing  mail;  shorthand  positions  of  a 
simple  character  for  those  who  have  elected  this  subject  in  the  tenth 
year,  and  clerical  work  of  a  more  advanced  character,  including 
machine  work  of  different  kinds.  Shorthand  positions  referred  to 
above  wiU  usually  be  the  kind  in  which  some  other  line  of  work  is 
the  important  part  of  the  requirement  and  the  ability  to  do  a  small 
amount  of  easy  shorthand  work  is  desired. 

Thus,  it  will  be  noted  that  up  to  the  end  of  the  tenth  year  the 
courses  are  the  same  for  all  students  and  afford  the  best  basic  train- 
ing for  the  kind  of  service  that  can  be  performed  by  younger  boys  and 
girls.    No  differentiation  is  necessary  up  to  this  point  because  of 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    567 

the  general  character  of  the  employment  for  which  such  students 
are  justified  in  making  preparation. 

From  the  tenth  year  on,  however,  through  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  years,  a  form  of  specialization  ought  to  be  made  available. 
Students  who  have  shown  marked  ability  in  English,  use  of  words, 
spelling,  shorthand  and  typewriting,  and  who  have  shown  some  of 
the  characteristics  that  go  to  make  a  good  secretary,  may  well  be 
encouraged  to  specialize  along  this  line.  Such  specialization  will  be 
especially  advantageous  for  girls  who  desire  to  enter  stenographic  and 
secretarial  positions. 

Other  students  may  show  special  aptitude  for  salesmanship. 
Such  students  may  weU  be  given  an  opportunity  to  specialize  in  an 
occupation  that  is  rapidly  developing  along  lines  that  will  insure  its 
place  among  the  most  desirable  commercial  occupations — retail 
selling.    Others,  especially  boys,  may  be  trained  for  outside  selling. 

Those  who  show  special  ability  along  accounting  lines,  or  in 
general  business  administration,  may  be  given  a  chance  to  prepare 
for  accountancy  and  general  business  positions,  including  advertising, 
salesmanship  and  executive  work. 

In  certain  cities  where  foreign  trade  is  important,  those  who  are 
interested  in  this  field  should  have  an  opportunity  to  specialize  in  it. 

Therefore,  the  tenth,  eleventh,  and  twelfth  years  are  set  up  in 
the  following  form  with  the  idea  of  affording  such  specialization  as 
may  be  called  for  by  certain  well  marked  aptitudes: 

TENTH  YEAR 
Required  Subjects  Hours  per  Week 

English 5 

Commercial  Geography   (including  physical  geography, 

local  industries  and  commercial  products) 5 

Commercial  II  (intermediate  bookkeeping  and  business 

practice) 5 

Elective  (choose  one) 

Shorthand  (see  note) 5 

Foreign  Language  (preferably  Spanish) 5 

History 5 

T)rpewriting   (must  be  taken    if    shorthand  is  elected. 

May  be  taken  as  an  extra  subject  without  shorthand.) 

(Unprepared.) 5 

Note. — If  the  student  has  decided  definitely  to  choose  the  General 
Business  or  Retail  Selling  Course  in  the  third  year,  Shorthand  should  not 
be  elected.  In  case  of  doubt  or  in  case  the  stenographic  course  is  chosen, 
elect  Shorthand. 


568 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


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A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    569 


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y/o  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

OFFICE   OR   STORE   WORK 

It  will  be  noted  that  a  part-time  co-operative  arrangement  is 
suggested  in  connection  with  the  twelfth  year  course  outlined  above. 
In  retail  selling,  contact  with  the  occupation  may  be  provided  to  a 
limited  extent  in  the  eleventh  year.  This  is  desirable  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  a  certain  type  of  store  service  must  be  thoroughly 
understood  before  students  are  eligible  to  sell  goods.  The  retail 
selling  experience  will  be  afforded  in  the  twelfth  year,  the  basis  for 
this  experience  having  been  laid  in  the  eleventh. 

Finally,  in  the  organization  of  commercial  courses  in  any  com- 
mimity,  not  only  local  occupational  requirements  should  be  kept  in 
mind,  but  also  the  limitations  of  teaching  force  and  equipment. 
The  differentiation  suggested  for  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  years 
should  not  be  attempted  in  small  high  schools.  However,  the  voca; 
tional  principles  suggested  may  well  be  given  careful  consideration 
in  connection  with  the  establishment  of  commerical  courses  in  any 
high  school  where  such  training  is  offered.  Know  the  needs  of  your 
students  in  the  light  of  local  business  opportunities  and  meet  those 
needs  as  fully  as  the  financial  support  of  the  local  school  board  will 
permit. 

This  proposed  course  coming  as  the  official  pronouncemen 
of  the  Federal  Board  has  had  considerable  influence  on  com- 
mercial work  in  the  high  schools  in  the  United  States.  There 
are,  without  doubt,  some  things  to  be  said  in  favor  of  this  course. 
In  the  first  place  it  has  an  objective  basis.  It  is  constructed 
upon  the  findings  of  the  Federal  Board's  Survey  of  Commercial 
Occupations.  Again,  it  recognizes  the  fact  that  students  drop 
out  of  school  and  attempts  to  meet  that  difficulty.  Moreover, 
it  shows  a  realization  that  the  training  needed  by  boys  is  different 
from  that  needed  by  girls,  and  attempts  an  adjustment  of  studies 
accordingly. 

There  are,  however,  in  this  proposed  course,  certain  weak- 
nesses which  to  some  appear  fundamental.  First,  there  should 
be  expressed  the  belief  that  no  survey  of  business  requirements 
is  alone  an  adequate  basis  upon  which  to  determine  a  curriculum 
for  the  secondary  commercial  course.  What  business  wants  is 
important,  but  it  is  by  no  means  the  only  matter  of  importance. 
What  business  is,  is  of  quite  as  much  significance,  and  our  survey 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    571 

of  what  business  is  should  be  convincing  evidence  that  there 
is  needed  in  business  education  something  much  larger  than  is 
proposed  in  the  offerings  of  the  course  under  consideration. 
Nor  does  it  follow  that  everything  that  is  needed  or  wanted 
should  be  given  by  the  high  school  business  course.  Indeed  one 
of  the  interesting  points  brought  out  by  the  Federal  Board's 
Junior  Survey  was  the  fact  "  That  80  per  cent  of  the  commercial 
workers  are  employed  in  occupations  other  than  those  most 
commonly  provided  for  in  commercial  courses."  This  shows 
that  to  the  extent  that  this  80  per  cent  of  the  commercial  workers 
are  succeeding  in  their  occupations,  they  are  doing  so  not 
because  of  any  high-school  training  they  may  have  had  but  in 
spite  of  it,  thus  proving  that  there  are  other  agencies  (chiefly 
training  by  ndustry  itself,  no  doubt)  competent. to  give  the 
technical  training  satisfactorily.  Furthermore,  the  board's 
program  suggests  the  use  of  continuation  school  and  evening 
school  courses  for  those  who  drop  out  at  the  end  of  any  unit 
"in  which  the  training  broken  off  in  the  day  school  may  be 
resumed  and  completed."  It  is  unfortunate  that  the  board  saw 
these  institutions  only  as  agencies  for  "resuming"  education  of 
the  same  sort  as  that  planned  in  the  high  school.  Such  institu- 
tions should  be  thought  of  essentially  as  distinct  agencies  for  a 
distinct  specialized  purpose.  Ii  a  student  must  drop  school 
before  he  is  sixteen,  seventeen,  or  eighteen,  it  is  time,  when  he 
definitely  decides  to  drop,  to  give  him  some  definitely  vocational 
courses.  But  there  is  no  reason  to  give  him  any  such  courses 
before  that  time.  And  such  courses  should  be  definitely  under- 
stood to  be  drop-out  courses.  For  giving  these  vocational 
courses  the  public  continuation  school  and  evening  schools,  the 
corporation  school,  and  other  private  schools  must  serve.  But 
it  is  nonsensical  to  give  the  same  type  of  work  to  those  who  are 
certain  to  go  through,  to  those  who  may  drop  out,  and  to  those 
who  have  dropped  out.  Yet  this  is  what  the  board's  proposal 
appears  to  be.  The  plan  lacks  a  view  of  the  various  educa- 
tional institutions  functioning  as  specialists  for  specialized  tasks. 
Not  only  is  practically  all  recognition  of  the  broader  require- 
ments of  business  and  the  use  of  specialized  agencies  for  special- 


572  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

ized  tasks  omitted  in  the  construction  of  the  board 's  outline,  but 
the  whole  social  aspect  of  a  publicly  supported  school  in  a 
democracy  is  likewise  neglected.  Vocation,  immediate,  is  the 
keynote,  and  practically  all  else  has  yielded  to  the  findings 
of  immediate  vocational  requiremeiiis. 

In  consequence,  if  the  board  has  its  way,  perhaps  one-fourth  of 
our  school  children  who  work  in  the  seventh  grade  and  above  will  go 
out  to  be  citizens  in  this  democracy  with  the  following  required 
formal  instruction  in  the  rights,  duties,  and  obligations  of  citizenship. 

Seventh  year:    Commercial  and  industrial  history 5  hours 

Eighth  year:      History  and  citizenship 3  hours 

Ninth  year:  Nothing 
Tenth  year:  Nothing 
Eleventh  year:  Nothing 

Twelfth  year:    Advanced  American  history,  with  civics 5  hours 

Economics  and  commercial  law 5  hours 

The  outlook  that  makes  such  a  program  possible  holds  forth  little 
hope  that  the  situation  will  be  saved  by  the  technical  subjects  being 
impregnated  with  social  material,  or  by  a  wise  use  of  electives. 

It  is  not  a  sufficient  answer  to  this  criticism  to  say  that  the 
important  thing  is  for  the  boys  and  girls  to  be  able  to  make  a  living 
and  that  therefore  everything  must  yield  to  the  presentation  of 
technical  subjects.  Such  an  answer  beclouds  the  whole  issue.  May 
it  not  be  that  the  technical  subjects  can  be  even  better  presented  in 
connection  with  a  presentation  of  the  outstanding  aspects  of  business 
activity  and  of  our  industrial  society  ?  If  this  is  not  possible,  perhaps 
American  democracy  might  better  pay  the  price  of  assistance  for 
longer  continuance  in  school  rather  than  pay  the  price  of  having 
masses  of  citizens  unaware  of  how  our  society  is  put  together.  Even 
in  the  range  of  business  activity,  let  us  remember  that  productive 
capacity  depends  upon  our  business  men  having  competence  in  social 
relationships  as  well  as  in  technical  matters.  The  program  of  the 
board  savors  too  much  of  a  plan  for  an  educational  system  devoted 
primarily  to  the  production  of  clerical  help.' 

'  L.  C.  Marshall,  "The  Relation  of  the  Collegiate  School  of  Business  to 
the  Secondary  School  System,"  Journal  of  Political  Economy  (February, 
1920),  pp.  158-59- 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS     573 

A  third  particular  in  which  the  course  outlined  by  the 
Federal  Board  is  open  to  criticism  is  its  acceptance  of  the  idea 
that  a  course  educating  for  business  must  be  built  largely 
out  of  the  traditional  commercial  material.  Such  an  accept- 
ance obviously  limits  the  resulting  course  most  seriously  and 
prevents  it  from  becoming  in  the  best  sense  a  constructive 
program. 

The  fourth  criticism  which  may  be  expressed  is  of  the  voca- 
tional unit  idea  itself  when  applied  to  a  secondary  commercial 
course.  There  is  implicit  in  the  vocational  unit-course  idea  the 
belief  that  students  are  likely  to  be  concluding  their  work  with 
the  conclusion  of  the  unit  of  study.  It  is  true  enough  that  the 
school  mortality  is  great  at  the  conclusion  of  every  year  after  the 
fifth  or  sixth  grade,  but  it  seems  unfortunate  to  lend  encourage- 
ment to  that  mortality  by  attempting  to  perfect  the  student 
at  as  many  periods  as  possible  with  the  technique  necessary 
for  immediate  employment.  With  the  desire  to  leave  school 
apparently  inherent^  with  as  much  of  vocational  flavor  as  pos- 
sible given  to  his  work,  with  his  course  at  every  period  of  his 
career  pointed  so  that  he  can  leave  school  and  be  equipped  for 
the  immediate  job,  the  setting  is  perfectly  calculated  to  make  the 
school  mortality  high.  The  whole  arrangement  tends  to  indicate 
to  the  student  that  the  school  is  to  prepare  him  for  a  job,  and 
that  as  soon  as  he  is  so  prepared  there  is  wisdom  in  leaving.  It 
would  be  better  vocational  guidance  to  postpone  all  technically 
qualifying  courses  until  the  last  year  or  two  years  of  the  high- 
school  course.  Nothing  of  a  highly  technical  nature  should  be 
given  in  the  regular  high-school  commercial  course  prior  to  the 
Junior  year  excepting  such  technique  as  will  help  the  student 
in  his  work  as  a  sitcdent.^  The  school  situation  should  be  so 
organized  that  everything  makes  it  difficult  rather  than  easy  for 
the  student  to  leave  school;  that  everything  indicates  the  value 
of  remaining  for  those  technical  courses  which  can  be  obtained 
toward  the  end  of  the  course;  that  everything  during  the  early 

*  Typewriting  and  possibly  stenography  might  be  examples.  The 
Federal  Board's  study  seems  to  prove  that  they  are  next  to  useless  after 
leaving  school,  however. 


574  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

high-school  years  aids  the  student  in  securing  knowledge  of 
the  situation  in  which  he  will  apply  his  technique  after  he  has 
acquired  it. 

Of  course,  it  will  be  objected  to  such  statements  as  the 
preceding  that  a  course  so  arranged  takes  no  account  of  those 
students  who  will  quit  school  in  spite  of  all  the  arranging  and 
adjusting  that  can  be  done.  It  will  be  cried,  ''To  postpone 
the  technical  work  in  the  high  school  will  mean  an  increase  of 
students  in  the  business  colleges  at  the  expense  of  commercial 
courses,  and  industry  will  be  even  more  than  now  wearied  with 
a  flood  of  undertrained  applicants."  Let  it  be  so.  Once  we 
recognize  that  the  business  colleges  have  in  such  work  a  legiti- 
mate field,  we  should  throw  about  them  such  restrictions  that 
they  cannot  sell  false  wares  or  any  wares  to  those  not  qualified 
to  use  them.  Controlled  by  these  restrictions  there  is  no  reason 
why  the  business  college  should  not  give  an  immense  part  of 
the  technical  training  for  those  students  who  will  not  go  beyond 
the  first  or  second  year  of  high  school.  They  can  do  it  well 
and,  although  the  incidence  of  the  cost  is  different,  the  total 
cost  to  the  community  is  doubtless  less  than  when  the  work  is 
performed  in  the  secondary  school.  On  the  other  hand,  any 
family  which  can  afford  to  keep  its  children  in  high  school 
for  two  years  cannot  afford  to  have  those  two  years  wholly 
occupied  with  a  narrow  clerical  training.  That  time  is  too 
precious  to  be  thus  spent.  If  technical  training  is  omitted 
something  else  more  valuable  may  be  done,  and  the  technical 
work  may  be  easily  obtained  elsewhere.  If  technical  work  is 
given,  the  time  is  consumed  and  the  more  valuable  thing  cannot 
be  obtained  in  any  other  institution.  Nor  is  it  sound  to  argue 
in  terms  of  financial  necessity  for  clerical  courses  in  the  public 
school,  for  any  family  which  can  afford  to  keep  a  child  in  the 
public  school  for  two  years  can  afford  six  or  nine  months  of 
business  college  work. 

So  far  as  the  complaints  of  industry  concerning  definite 
technique  are  concerned,  there  is  likewise  little  cause  to  be 
disturbed.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  secondary  school  should 
offer  to  each  industry  students  competent  to  perform  each 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    575 

detailed  task.  Given  a  sound  foundation  with,  at  most,  broad 
types  of  technical  training,  industry  through  its  own  training- 
schools  should  assume  the  costs  of  special  instruction.  And 
those  persons  who  most  thoughtfully  represent  industry  have 
over  and  over  again  laid  down  this  principle.  Here,  again,  the 
real  costs  to  the  community  as  a  whole  are  far  less  than  when  a 
great  number  of  people  are  trained  in  special  techniques,  many 
of  which  will  not  apply  to  special  businesses,  and  when  a  number 
of  the  people  so  trained  will  never  make  any  application  of 
the  techniques  in  any  field.  Any  ordinary  sense  of  social 
economy  fixes  the  corporation  school,  sometimes  supplemented 
by  the  public  continuation,  postgraduate,  and  evening  schools, 
and  sometimes  by  private  schools  as  the  proper  agency  for  a 
large  share  of  the  technical  work  which  many  persons  are  anxious 
to  place  in  the  secondary  school. 

A  CONSTRUCTIVE  PROGRAM  NEEDED 

In  many  ways  the  most  serious  criticism  of  the  Federal 
Board's  proposal  is  the  failure  to  outline  a  virile  program  to 
redeem  the  situation  which  its  own  survey  revealed.  The  tragic 
joke  on  secondary  educators,  and  rather  a  monumental  one, 
uncovered  by  the  Board 's  Survey,  is  the  fact  that  after  a  great 
many  years  of  impregnating  the  high-school  commercial  course 
with  certain  technical  subjects,  80  per  cent  of  the  commercial 
workers  are  found  to  be  in  occupations  other  than  those  provided 
for  in  high-school  commercial  courses.  The  so-called  vocational 
studies  in  the  high-school  commercial  course  are  thus  disclosed 
to  be  not  vocational  courses  and  not  anything  else.  They  have 
been  merely  "motion  making." 

With  this  situation  made  clear,  largely  as  a  result  of  the 
Federal  Board's  Survey,  it  becomes  obvious  that  the  old  voca- 
tional courses  in  the  high-school  commercial  curriculum  must 
in  large  measure  be  abandoned.  But  this  leaves  a  vacuum  and 
the  necessity  of  fillhig  it.  Unfortunately  the  Federal  Board  did 
not  erect  a  substantial  educational  program  with  which  to  fill 
the  space.  Overlooking  the  fact  that  industry  was  already  doing 
the   technical   training  with  formal   or  informal   corporation 


576  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

schools,  overlooking  the  fact  that  many  private  and  public 
agencies  were  ready  to  supplement  the  corporation  school,  over- 
looking the  fundamental  purposes  and  duties  of  public  education, 
nothing  better  was  forthcoming  than  the  proposal  to  fill  up  each 
of  the  precious  high-school  years  with  a  juvenile  study  of  the 
petty  duties  with  which  a  boy  or  girl  leaving  school  would  be  con- 
cerned for  the  first  few  months.  By  the  board's  own  findings, 
these  duties  will  be  pertinent  but  a  short  time,  for  a  new  line  of 
duties  appropriate  to  each  succeeding  year  of  age  is  suggested  in 
each  of  the  one-year  unit  courses.  The  training  for  vocations 
is  thus  obviously  directed  toward  the  immediate  vocation  only 
with  no  serious  consideration  of  the  vocation  of  the  many  years 
to  follow.  It  is  vocational  training  for  the  first  job,  in  no  sense 
vocational  training  for  a  life  in  business.^ 

WHAT   SHALL  BE   DONE   WITH   THE  HIGH- 
SCHOOL  BUSINESS   COURSE  ? 

The  answer  to  What  shall  be  done  with  the  high-school 
commercial  course?  demands: 
I.  A  clear  recognition  of  certain  basic  facts 
11.  An  answer  to  the  question.  What  shall  be  the  organization 

of  the  work  to  give  a  sense  of  social  relationship  ? 
III.  A  consideration  of  the  technical  work  that  must  be  given 
Let  us  consider  each  of  these  matters  in  turn. 
I.  We  need,  first  of  all,  a  clear  view  of  the  following: 

1.  There  are  two  great  overlapping  and  interacting  phases 
of  business  education.  One  of  these  is  education  in  the  percep- 
tion of  relationships;   the  other  is  training  in  technique. 

2.  The  high-school  commercial  course  is  only  one  of  a 
number  of  specialized  educational  institutions.  It  must  not 
undertake  to  do  all  of  the  task  of  educating  for  business.  To 
do  so  is  to  fail.  This  has  been  its  weakness  in  the  past.  Its 
real  task  is  to  do  as  well  as  possible  what  other  agencies  cannot 
do  better. 

^  The  criticisms  expressed  above  apply,  obviously,  to  the  course  outlined 
by  the  board.  That  there  is  evidence  at  present  of  a  somewhat  changing 
view,  see  pages  159  and  160. 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS     577 

3.  It  is  clear  that  there  are  many  agencies  which  can  give 
well  a  large  part,  if  not  all,  of  the  technical  training  required. 
The  corporation  school,  the  business  college,  the  continuation 
school,  evening  courses,  co-operative  courses,  the  postgraduate 
technical  course,  and  the  correspondence  school,  all  perform  in 
this  field.  These  agencies  are  not  qualified  to  give  satisfactory 
training  in  relationships  in  any  case.  They  need  co-operation 
and  encouragement,  and  in  some  cases  they  need  control  for 
the  proper  performance  of  technical  training.  In  technical 
training,  however,  they  each  have  an  advantage  over  the 
high-school  commercial  course  in  that  they  function  when  the 
student  is  close  to  the  job  or  actually  employed  in  it.  They 
can  be  used  at  ahnost  any  time;  they  can  be  readily  shifted 
from  one  type  of  training  to  another.  They  are  flexible, 
adaptable,  and  definite  for  varied  and  definite  needs. 

4.  If  we  assume  that  some  technical  work  must  be  done  in  the 
high  school,  there  arises  the  question  of  proper  division  of  time 
between  such  training  and  the  studies  deaUng  with  social 
relationships.  No  amount  of  time  is  too  long  for  the  latter 
work.  The  proper  approach  to  this  question  is  therefore  (a)  to 
determine  the  amount  of  technical  work  which  must  he  done  and 
which  cannot  he  turned  over  to  agencies  other  than  the  high  school; 
(b)  to  determine  the  minimum  time  for  the  technical  work  which, 
as  a  result,  must  he  given  in  the  high  school;  finally,  (c)  to 
place  that  minimum  period  of  time  at  the  later  part  of  the 
high-school  commercial  course.  There  is  thus  allowed  all  of 
the  preceding  period  of  high-school  instruction  for  education  in 
relationships. 

II.  An  answer  to  the  question.  What  shall  be  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  work  to  give  a  sense  of  social  relationships?  As  a 
result  of  the  analysis  made  above,,  this  becomes  the  second 
question.  Any  arrangement  of  the  social  studies  now  existing 
in  general  high-school  courses  is  better  than  the  lack  of  such 
studies  which  has  been  typical  of  commercial  courses.  The 
high  schools,  however,  have  not  worked  out  a  method  of 
giving  social  studies  which  offer  the  student  a  well-rounded 
view  of  the  world  in  which  he  lives.    A  commission,  following 


578  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

a  rather  extensive  survey  for  the  association  of  collegiate  schools 
of  business,  reported  as  follows:^ 

A  review  of  the  pronouncements  made  up  to  the  December,  192 1, 
meetings  by  the  leading  organizations  concerned  with  the  presenta- 
tion of  social  studies  in  our  secondary  schools  of  the  academic 
type  justifies  the  following  comments: 

a)  The  grip  of  history  is  strong.  In  the  main,  it  seems  to  have 
been  assumed  that  the  historical  study  should  be  the  chief  instru- 
mentality for  giving  our  younger  students  an  understanding  of  the 
structure  of  the  present-day  society. 

b)  This  attitude  has  been  challenged  to  some  considerable  extent 
in  recent  years  by  the  community  civics  movement,  and  by  the 
American  Political  Science  Association  and  the  American  Socio- 
logical Society — so  effectively  challenged,  indeed,  that,  the  historians 
themselves  show  signs  that  they  appreciate  that  the  monoply  of 
history  in  secondary  social  studies  is  to  be  broken  and  that  the  history 
which  remains  in  the  curriculum  is  to  be  more  definitely  pointed 
toward  understanding  the  society  of  today. 

c)  The  report  of  the  Subcommittee  of  the  National  Education 
Association  on  Social  Studies  in  Secondary  Education,  more  than 
any  other  report,  displays  a  desire  to  make  the  student  acquainted 
with  the  various  aspects  of  the  society  in  which  he  lives.  But  even 
that  report  blocks  out  a  plan  which  is  entirely  inadequate.  Not- 
withstanding its  emphasis  upon  "community,"  "economic,"  and 
"vocational  "civics,  sufficient  attention  is  not  given  to  the  economic 
aspects  of  modem  society.  The  document  shows  the  influence  of 
the  historian,  the  political  scientist,  and  the  sociologist,  but  not 
sufficiently  that  of  the  economist.  In  particular  there  is  a  hap- 
hazard and  inadequate  presentation  of  economic  interests  in  the 
content  of  community  civics.  There  is  a  good  selection  of  scattered 
topics,  but  the  student  can  scarcely  secure  a  rounded,  balanced  view 
of  our  modem  society.  Quite  aside  from  the  poor  balance  in  this 
program  of  social  studies,  it  is  inadequate  in  its  senior  high  school 
presentation.  The  senior  high  school  curriculum  should  bring  to 
ripeness  and  maturity  the  earlier  work,  but  this  is  not  done. 

The  failure  of  secondary  educators  to  organize  existing  social 
studies  in  a  satisfactory  way  has  suggested  the  necessity  of 

'  Adapted  by  permission  from  Association  of  Collegiate  Schools  of  Busi- 
ness, Social  Studies  in  Secondary  Schools,  pp.  18-19.  University  of  Chicago 
Press,  1922. 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    579 

taking  an  entirely  new  view  and  perfecting  a  new  arrangement 
of  new  material.  Such  undertakings  have  been  stimulated  by 
current  movements  in  school  organization. 

Two  recent  proposals  will  be  given  some  consideration  here. 
They  are  both  enterprising  plans  and  both  conceive  the  school 
program  as  a  continuous  project.  The  first  of  these  is  the  pro- 
gram outlined  by  the  commission  of  the  collegiate  schools  of 
business.  The  work  of  this  commission  has  more  significance 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  it  included  a  member  from  the  Associa- 
tion of  Secondary  School  Principals,  one  from  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  and  one  who  was  an  appointee  of  the 
National  Industrial  Conference  Board.^ 

Enough  has  been  said  to  make  it  reasonably  clear,  first,  that  the 
situation  with  respect  to  social  studies  is  far  from  satisfactory  in  our 
educational  institutions,  second,  that  the  whole  matter  is  now  under 
serious  consideration  and  that  modifications  are  practically  certain  to 
occur.  But  it  is  not  merely  the  social  studies  which  are  in  the  melting- 
pot.  Other  studies  are  there  also.  There  also  will  be  found  the  whole 
scheme  of  organization  of  our  American  educational  system. 

....  For  a  variety  of  causes  that  system  has  taken  a  form  which 
may  be  described  as  an  end-to-end  joining  of  an  eight-year  elementary 
school,  a  four-year  secondary  school,  a  four-year  college  course 
(frequently  shortened  when  taken  in  connection  with  a  professional 
course),  and  the  professional  school.  For  a  variety  of  reasons  this 
organization  is  under  criticism,  and  has  indeed  been  under  ciriticism 
from  the  time  of  President  Eliot's  attacks  upon  it  in  the  late  eighties 
and  early  nineties.  The  outstanding  aspects  of  that  criticism  for 
our  purposes  are  these: 

With  the  lengthening  of  the  average  period  of  school  attendance 
per  year,  a  six-year  elementary  course  is  sufficient.  Its  continuation 
as  an  eight-year  program  has  meant  an  undue  and  ineffective  inflation 
of  the  elementary  subjects  in  order  to  occupy  the  time  available.  The 
result  has  been  formalistic  presentation  of  subjects,  wasted  time  in 
the  educational  process,  intellectual  nausea  on  the  part  of  its  recip- 
ients, and  wholesale  desertion  by  the  students  in  later  years  over 

*  The  following  statement  is  adapted  from  the  Association  of  Collegiate 
Schools  of  Business,  Social  Studies  in  Secondary  Schools,  pp.  41-61.  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  Press,  1922. 


580  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

and  above  any  amounts  justified  by  the  economic  situation  of  the 
families  concerned. 

With  the  increasing  complexity  of  our  social  organization,  the 
increasing  range  of  our  intellectual  pursuits,  and  the  increasing  inten- 
sity of  modem  life,  the  high  schools — those  colleges  of  the  common 
people — ^have  looked  with  longing  eyes  upon  the  seventh  and  eighth 
grades  which  are  largely  wasted  under  our  present  system,  and  in 
some  cases  have  coveted  the  first  two  years  of  college  work.  The 
pressure  of  the  high-school  curriculum  upon  the  time  available  in 
the  ordinary  four-year  course  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  average 
high  school  in  the  territory  of  the  North  Central  Association  offers 
more  than  twice  as  many  units  of  work  as  are  required  for  graduation, 
and  the  larger  schools  offer  from  three  to  four  times  as  many.  School 
administrations,  laboring  under  such  pressure,  are  not  likely  to  be 
patient  with  wasted  opportunities  in  the  earlier  grades. 

It  is  contended  that  an  arrangement  of  work  which  terminated 
the  elementary  school  at  the  end  of  six  years,  and  followed  that  by 
a  three-year  junior  high  school,  and  then  set  up  a  three-year  senior 
high  school,  would  be  more  in  accord  with  the  psychological  develop- 
ment of  the  child  than  is  the  present  arrangement.  While  this  is 
disputed  territory,  the  Commission  on  the  Reorganization  of  Second- 
ary Education,  appointed  by  the  National  Education  Association, 
after  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  whole  situation,  definitely 
recommends  the  reorganization  of  the  school  system  on  the  6-3-3 
basis. 

The  present  arrangement  is  particularly  under  fire  from  the 
professional  schools.  They  contend  that  both  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  welfare  of  the  individual  and  from  the  point  of  view  of  society's 
interest  in  the  case  people  should  begin  their  professional  training 
at  least  two  years  earlier 

European  experience  is  also  cited  in  criticism  of  our  old  scheme 
of  organization.  This  requires  no  comment.  It  is  true  that  our 
system  stands  alone. 

As  has  been  intimated,  the  first  clear  plea  for  a  comprehensive 
reorganization  was  voiced  by  President  Eliot  in  the  late  eighties  and 
early  nineties.  Within  the  last  ten  years  the  movement  has  been 
given  great  impetus.  In  the  form  of  the  so-called  6-3-3  or  6-6 
arrangement,  it  has  been  definitely  recommended  by  the  Commission 
of  the  National  Education  Association.  It  has  been  more  or  less 
assimied  by  the  various  educational  committees  whicJb  have  reported 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    581 

in  recent  years;  it  is  actually  occurring  with  considerable  rapidity  in 
our  various  communities.  In  1913,  13  per  cent  of  the  high  schools 
of  the  North  Central  Association  territory  had  taken  on  junior  high 
schools;  today  over  25  per  cent  have  assumed  this  form;  and  com- 
petent observers  predict  that  the  majority  of  the  secondary  schools 
of  the  country  will  be  organized  on  this  basis  in  the  not  far  distant 
future. 

True,  in  many  cases  this  reorganization  has  been  a  mere  admin- 
istrative form,  but  this  is  not  of  the  essence  of  the  case.  Properly 
understood,  this  so-called  6-3-3  or  6-6  arrangement  or  any  other 
comparable  plan  means  far  more  than  the  administrative  device  of 
taking  two  years  away  from  one  organization  and  bestowing  them 
upon  another.  It  contemplates  the  entire  reorganization  of  the 
curriculum  to  the  end  that  without  loss  of  training  (its  advocates  claim 
there  will  be  a  gain)  two  years  of  time  may  be  saved  and  students 
may  be  carried  by  the  end  of  the  twelfth  grade  to  approximately  the 
position  now  reached  by  the  end  of  the  Sophomore  year  in  college.^ 


Grades  i  to  6 

7              8             9 

10                IX               13 

Elementary 

.._ 

Junior  Hign  School 

" 

Senior  High  School 

College  and  Professional  School 

Clearly  enough,  the  movement  is  on  and  is  on  vigorously.  So 
far  as  we  can  now  see,  the  educational  system  which  will  result  may 
be  crudely  represented  by  the  above  diagram.  A  fairly  coherent  and 
unified  system  of  training  in  fundamental  processes  in  the  elementary 
schools  will  be  followed  by  the  junior  high  school,  in  which  it  is  at 
least  desirable  that  the  basic  considerations  shall  be  training  in  citizen- 
ship, with  the  beginnings  of  specialization  occurring  only  in  the  later 
stages  of  that  school.  This  will  be  followed  by  the  senior  high  school 
in  which,  paralleled  with  the  college  preparatory  course  so  called, 
will  certainly  go  very  considerable  ranges  of  vocational  training. 
The  college  and  the  professional  school  will  receive  the  graduates  of 

*  Preliminary  experiments  have  already  been  conducted  in  this  field 
with  the  result  of  saving  one  year  of  time,  and  experiments  are  well  under 
way  to  bring  about  the  saving  of  another  year. 


S82  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

the  senior  high  school,  who  will  bring  an  equipment  comparable  with 
that  possessed  by  the  present  Junior  in  college,  if  the  reorganization 
works  out  successfully. 

The  Commission  proposes  a  program  of  social  studies  for  the 
junior  high  school  which  it  believes  to  be  more  fundamental  and 
far-reaching  than  the  other  proposals  which  have  been  made. 

This  Commission  believes  that  the  social  studies  should  be  the 
backbone  of  secondary  education,  with  which  all  other  studies  and 
school  activities  should  be  closely  articulated  according  to  their 
contributions  to  the  social  objectives  of  education.  Since  each  indi- 
vidual must  be  a  citizen  and  as  such  must  participate  in  group  action, 
the  social  studies  should  be  represented  in  each  grade  of  education, 
and  every  pupil  should  have  at  least  one  unit  of  social  study  in  every 
year  of  the  school  course. 

The  reorganization  which  is  now  in  process  in  our  educational 
system  (which  opens  up  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades  for  the  intro- 
duction of  new  material)  justifies  a  somewhat  daring  attempt  to  think 
through,  as  a  coherent  whole,  our  presentation  of  secondary  social 
studies,  without  too  much  regard  for  traditional  claims  or  customary 
practices. 

An  effective  program  of  social  studies  will  be  organized  in 
terms  of  the  psychology  of  learning.  The  average  child  of  the  seventh 
grade  is  at  least  beginning  to  have  a  social  consciousness.  His  mind 
is  reaching  out  to  understand  his  relationships  to  other  people  and 
to  society  as  a  whole.  The  fact  that  he  is  not  aware  of  his  developing 
attitude  does  not  interfere  with  making  use  of  this  interest. 

A  SUMMARY  VIEW  OF  THE  PROPOSED  JUNIOR  HIGH  SCHOOL 
PROGRAM   IN   SOCIAL  STUDIES 

This  summary  view  will  present,  in  specific  terms,  only 

the  work  in  social  studies. 

SEVENTH  GRADE 

1 .  Geographic  bases  of  (physical  environment  with  relation  to)  United 
States  development 

2.  Social  science  survey  (types  of  social  organization) 

a)  Simple  industry  and  simple  society 

b)  The  transforming  effects  of  scientific  knowledge 

3.  Other  studies,  correlated  so  far  as  may  be  practicable  with  the 
social-study  material 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    583 

EIGHTH  GRADE 

i .  The  opening  of  the  world  to  the  use  of  man 

2.  Vocational  survey,  the  individual's  place  in  our  social  organiza- 
tion (presented  in  functional  terms  so  that  it  may  contribute  to 
an  understanding  of  our  type  of  social  organization) 

3.  Other  studies,  correlated  so  far  as  may  be  practicable  with  the 
social-study  material 

-       NINTH   GRADE 

1.  The  history  of  the  United  States  (presented  with  "citizenship 
material"  occupying  the  center  of  attention) 

2.  Principles  of  social  organization  (economic,  political,  social) 

3.  Other  studies,  correlated  so  far  as  may  be  practicable  with  the 
social-study  material 

4.  A  general  survey  of  business  administration,  elective 

A  DETAILED   VIEW   OF   THE   WORK   OF   THE   SEVENTH   GRADE 

The  work  of  this  grade  sets  out  consciously  to  "give  our  youth  society 
and  appreciation  of  what  it  means  to  live  together  in  organized 
society,  an  appreciation  of  how  we  do  live  together,  and  an  under- 
standing of  the  conditions  precedent  to  living  together  well." 
Its  emphasis  is  upon  the  first  and  third  of  these  propositions, 
without  at  aU  neglecting  the  second.  The  survey  of  types  of 
social  organization  in  simple  societies  emphasizes  the  first;  the 
survey  of  the  transforming  effects  of  scientific  knowledge,  the  work 
in  geography,  and  the  work  in  science  emphasize  the  third.  Of 
course,  there  is  no  intention  of  making  a  sharp  differentiation  in 
treatment. 

The  foregoing  statement  of  purpose  may  be  stated  differently.  The 
work  of  this  grade  seeks  to  sweep  together,  into  a  somewhat 
organic  whole,  the  social-study  work  of  the  first  six  grades,  and 
to  take  a  further  step  in  generalized  thinking  in  the  field. 

The  work  in  geographic  bases  of  (physical  environment  with  relation 
to)  United  States  development  is  designed. 

1.  To  bring  into  an  organic  whole  the  preceding  work  in  history, 
civics,  and  geography  in  such  a  way  as  to 

2.  Show  the  importance  of  physical  environment  with  respect  to 
conditions  precedent  to  living  together  well,  and  to 

5.  Prepare  the  way,  in  terms  of  principles,  for  the  work  of  the  next 
two  grades,  and  to 


584  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

4.  Give  the  student  who  can  go  no  farther  a  significant  contribution 
to  his  "appreciation  of  how  we  Hve  together  and  understanding 
of  the  conditions  precedent  to  living  together  well." 

The  social-science  survey  of  types  of  social  organization  is  designed 

1.  To  bring  into  an  organic  whole  the  preceding  work  in  history, 
civics,  and  geography  in  such  a  way  as  to  prepare  the  way,  in 
terms  of  principles,  for  the  work  of  the  next  two  grades. 

2.  To  lay  a  comparative  basis  for  the  later  more  careful  survey  of 
the  evolutionary  development  of  the  functioning  social  structure. 

3.  To  give  the  student  who  can  go  no  farther  a  significant  contribu- 
tion to  his  "awareness  of  what  it  means  to  live  together  in 
organized  society,  appreciation  of  how  we  do  live  together  and 
understanding  of  the  conditions  precedent  to  living  together  well." 

The  suggested  method  of  presenting  this  social-science  survey 
material  is  as  follows: 

1 .  Present  a  series  of  snapshots  of  simple  types  of  social  organization 
such  as 

The  life  of  Neolithic  man 

The  life  of  the  Iroquois 

The  life  of  nomads 

Life  in  a  medieval  manor 

Life  in  a  medieval  town 

Life  in  a  modem  secluded  mountain  district 

Life  in  a  frontier  mining  camp 
in  which  the  student  can  see  how  such  matters  as  education, 
religion,  health,  social  control,  economic  activities,  etc.  (these  are 
only  samples),  were  cared  for  and  can  begin  to  see  wherein  our 
ways  of  caring  for  such  matters  are  different,  if  different. 
This  comparative  study  should  be  directed  toward  bringing  out 
certain  concepts,  of  which  the  following  may  be  taken  as  examples 
(they  are  only  samples):  self-sufficiency  vs.  interdependence; 
customary  vs.  competitive  methods;  non-exchange  vs.  exchange 
society;  non-industrial  vs.  industrial  society;  the  shifting  emphasis 
in  social  control;  the  modem  co-operation  of  specialists — all  with 
the  idea  of  leading  the  student  to  "generalize"  his  knowledge  and 
with  the  further  idea  of  preparing  him  for  the  study  of  "principles " 
in  the  ninth  grade. 

2.  The  latter  part  of  the  survey  is  to  be  devoted  to  showing  the 
contribution  of  knowledge  "to  our  living  together  well"  and  how 
that  reacts  upon  the  type  of  social  organization.    This  should  be 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    585 

no  mere  threadbare  account  of  the  Industrial  Revolution :  it  should 
be  an  account  of  the  transforming  effects  of  science  on  our  ways 
of  living  together.  Notice  that  the  way  has  been  prepared  by 
the  student's  work  in  science,  if  science  is  offered  in  this  grade. 

A  DETAILED   VIEW   OF  THE  WORK   OF  THE   EIGHTH   GRADE 

There  is  presumably  no  need  for  a  detailed  statement  of  the  general 
purpose  of  the  work  of  this  grade.  It  is  obvious  that,  in  addition 
to  caring  properly  for  those  who  must  drop  out  at  the  end  of  the 
year,  this  grade  must  (a)  begin  to  give  many  students  a  rational 
basis  for  selection  of  vocations  and  (b)  continue  the  preparation 
for  the  more  generalized  social  study  of  the  ninth  grade. 

The  work  in  "The  Opening  of  the  World  to  the  Use  of  Man"  is 
designed 

1.  To  knit  together  and  to  build  upon  the  social-science  survey  and 
geography  of  the  preceding  grade  in  such  a  way  that  the  student 
will  get  as  a  part  of  his  mental  machinery — -as  tools  of  which  he 
will  make  conscious  use — concepts  of  change,  development,  and 
continuity. 

2.  In  respect  to  factual  background,  to  give  the  students  some 
appreciation  of  the  long,  hard  trail  the  human  race  has  climbed; 
to  let  him  see  the  emergence  of  Western  civilization,  its  spread 
over  the  earth,  and  its  contacts  with  other  civilizations. 

3.  To  give  the  student  the  "world-background"  against  which  the 
history  of  his  own  country  (ninth  grade)  may  be  seen  in  perspec- 
tive and  to  make  him  " cosmopoUtan "  and  "international"  in  a 
wholesome  sense  of  those  words. 

The  vocational  survey  (the  individual's  place  in  our  social  organiza- 
tion) is  designed 

1.  To  give  the  student  an  opportunity  (upon  which  their  experience 
has  caused  so  many  school  men  to  insist)  to  think  through  in 
specific  terms  his  own  possible  contribution  to  social  living. 
Whether  this  results  in  his  actually  "choosing  a  vocation"  matters 
little,  if  at  all.  Out  of  it,  he  should  get  a  clearer  notion  of  the 
quaUties  making  for  individual  success  in  the  process  of  social 
living. 

2.  To  give  this,  however,  not  as  a  set  of  maxims  and  preachments  and 
not  as  a  set  of  "job  analyses"  but  as  a  survey  of  the  activities 
(emphasizing  here  economic  activities  without  neglecting  political 
and  social  considerations)  which  are  carried  on  in  our  type  of  social 
organization,  and 


556  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

3.  To  do  this  in  such  a  way  that  he  will  glimpse  an  economic  organ- 
ization in  which  activities  are  in  terms  of  social  purposes.  By  way 
of  illustration.  The  student  who  sees  the  ''undifferentiated" 
medieval  trader  split  up  as  time  goes  on  into  transporter,  insurer, 
financier,  seller,  etc.,  will  have  a  different  conception  of  the  work 
of  railroads,  insurance  companies,  banks,  etc.,  from  the  one  he 
would  have  had  after  an  unconnected  "study  of  occupations." 
In  other  words,  the  vocational  survey  is  designed  to  give  the 
student  a  more  thorough  and  specific  conception  of  oun  social 
organization  as  it  actually  operates  in  our  "living  together." 

A  DETAILED   VIEW   OF   THE   WORK   OF   THE   NINTH   GRADE 

Here,  also,  a  detailed  statement  of  general  purpose  may  be  omitted. 
Looking  back  over  the  junior  high  school  curriculum,  this  year's 
work  seeks  to  knit  together  the  preceding  work  (a)  in  terms  of 
principles,  and  (6)  in  terms  of  their  application  to  citizenship  in 
our  own  country.  Looking  forward  to  the  work  of  the  senior  high 
school,  this  year's  work  seeks  to  pave  the  way  for  the  more  special- 
ized presentation  of  the  social  sciences. 

The  work  in  the  history  of  the  United  States  (presented  with 
"citizenship  material"  occupying  the  center  of  attention)  is  self- 
explanatory,  if  it  is  kept  in  mind  that  the  ideal  is  that  of  bringing 
the  social-science  work  of  the  preceding  grades,  as  well  as  that  of 
this  ninth  grade,  to  a  focus  in  this  account  of  the  development  ol 
our  own  social  living  together.  Such  a  statement  indicates  thci 
kind  of  history  which  is  to  be  presented. 

The  work  in  principles  of  social  organization  assumes  that  the  student 
has  been  given  sufiicient  factual  background  and  has  attained  a 
sufficient  maturity  to  enable  him  to  view  our  social  living  in  terms 
of  principles  rather  than  in  terms  of  types  or  of  practices.  It  asks 
the  student  to  do,  as  a  conscious  matter,  a  most  fundamental 
thing,  namely,  seek  relationships  on  a  scale  which  will  give  him 
an  organic  view  of  our  social  living.  He  is  asked  (so  far  as  he 
may  now  be  able)  to  formulate  consciously  the  principles  of  social 
living  which  should  guide  him  in  later  years.  It  is  to  be  noticed 
in  passing  that  no  such  opportunity  now  exists  in  any  stage  of  our 
school  curriculum.  It  is  conceivable  that  the  first  draft  of  this 
win  have  to  be  in  three  parts:  (i)  economic  organization,  (2) 
political  organization,  (3)  social  organization  not  otherwise  han- 
dled. But  it  is  hoped  and  expected  that  it  may  be  done  not  as 
three  parts  but  as  one  unified  whole. 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    587 

While  it  forms  no  part  of  the  basic  material,  the  elective  work  (for 
those  who  plan  to  take  the  so-called  commercial  course)  in  Survey 
of  Business  Administration  deserves  passing  notice.  It  should 
dovetail  both  with  the  vocational  survey  of  the  preceding  grade 
and  with  the  work  in  Principles  of  Social  Organization  of  this  grade. 
It  should  provide  the  sadly  lacking  unifying  elements  in  the  pres- 
ent miscellaneous  collection  of  "commercial  courses."  It  should 
be  of  distinct  vocational  service  for  the  student  who  can  go  no 
farther,  and  it  should  pave  the  way  for  a  higher  standard  of 
"commercial  courses"  in  the  senior  high  school. 

A   HINT   OF  THE   PROGRAM   OF  THE   SENIOR   HIGH   SCHOOL 

The  foregoing  sets  forth  the  material  on  which  the  Commission 
particularly  covets  discussion,  but  it  is  worth  while  to  suggest 
something  of  its  bearing  upon  the  senior  high  school  program.  It 
is  assumed  that  in  each  year  of  the  senior  high  school,  some  social- 
study  work  will  be  required  and  that  the  work  will  be  presented  in 
more  specialized  (scientific  ?)  form  than  it  was  in  the  earlier  grades. 

The  following  statement  gives  merely  a  suggestion  of  possible  courses 
in  the  field  of  economics  and  business.  Perhaps  it  contains  hints 
for  other  fields  of  study.  The  Commission  believes  that  our 
larger  high  schools,  at  least,  might  in  time  offer  considerable 
choice  of  courses  in  the  fields  that  we  now  designate  as  political 
science,  history,  psychology,  arid  sociology. 

1.  The  financial  organization  of  society  and  the  manager's  adminis- 
tration of  finance. 

2.  The  market  organization  of  society  and  the  manager's  adminis- 
tration of  market. 

3.  The  position  of  the  worker  in  our  society  and  personnel 
administration. 

4.  The  evolution  of  our  economic  society.  (Note  that  this  is 
vastly  more  than  a  "History  of  Commerce"  and  vastly  more 
than  the  typical  "Industrial  History.") 

5.  Accounting  (not  merely  as  bookkeeping  but  also  as  an  instru- 
ment of  control  in  the  hands  of  the  executive). 

6.  Business  law  (as  a  manifestation  of  social  control  of  business 
activities  and  as  a  facilitating  aid  of  business). 

7.  Such  technical  courses  as  may  be  expedient.  An  illustration  is 
shorthand  and  typewriting. 

8.  Theories  of  value  and  distribution. 

9.  Government  and  industry. 


588 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


o 
1 

1| 

5  2  « 

European  history  to  approximately  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century  (i  yr.),  including  ancient,  oriental,  English,  and 
American  exploration 

European  history  (including  English)  since  end  of  seventeenth 
century  (i  or  i  yr.) 

American  history  since  the  seventeenth  century  (i  or  i  yr.) 

Problems  of  American  Democracy  (i  or  i  yr.) 

specialized  form  and 
visions  of  the  social 
rlier  grades.     Avail- 
of   curricula,   and 
in  determining  the 

1 

a 

United    States    his- 
tory during  national 
period     studied     in 
same  spirit  as  that 
indicated  for  tenth 
grade 

The  presentation  of  social  studies  in  more 
more  in  accord  with  the  traditional  di 
sciences  than  was  suggested  for  the  ea 
ability   of   material,   local   organizatior 
vocational  needs  will  all  play  a  part 
selection  of  courses. 

1 

O 
c 

Progress    toward 
world-democracy 
since   1650   (mainly 
European      histoiy 
emphasizing    politi- 
cal aspects  but  seek- 
ing explanations  in 
economic     changes, 
inventions,    discov- 
eries,     social       re- 
groupings,     leader- 
ship, and  thought) 

1 

.s 

Community  and  na- 
tional activities  or 
progress  of  civiliza- 
tion to  about  1650 

Civics,  state,  nation- 
al (i  yr.) 

Civics,  economic  and 
vocational  (i  yr.) 

History  in  connection 
with  above 

OR 

Civics,  economic,  and 
vocational    (i   yr.), 
Economic     History 
(i  yr.),  in  sequence 
or  parallel 

The  history  of  the 
United  States 

Principles  of  social 
organization 

Other  studies  cor- 
related 

The  world  since  1607 
viewed   in    relation 
to  the  evolution  and 
expanding      world- 
influence      of      the 
United  States 

American  history  (i 
yr.).  Civics  (J  yr.), 
in  sequence  or  par- 
allel 

Geography  taught  in- 
cidentally to  above 

Opening  of  the  world 
to  the  use  of  man 

The  place  of  the 
individual  in  our 
society  (vocational 
survey) 

Other  studies  cor- 
related 

1 

o 

a 

The     world     before 
1607  and  the  begin- 
nings  of   American 
history,      including 
rise       of        Latin- 
American  Republics 

Geography  (J  yr.), 
European  history 
(i  yr.),  in  sequence 
or  parallel 

Civics  as  phase  of 
above,  or  segregated 
or  both 

OR 

European  history  (i 
yr.) 

Geography  taught  in- 
cidentally to  history 
Civics  as  cited  above 

Geographic  bases  of 
(physical  environ- 
ment in  relation  to) 
United  States  de- 
velopment 

Social-science  survey 
(types  of  social  or- 
ganization) 

a)  Simple    industry 
and  simple  society 

b)  Transforming  ef- 
fect of  knowledge 

Other    studies     cor- 
related 

I.  Committee      on 
History  and  Edu- 
cation for  Citizen- 
ship,      American 
Historical  Associa- 
tion 

2.  1916     Report    of 
Subtommittee   on 
Social    Studies  in 
Secondary  Educa- 
tion 

National     Educa- 
tion     Association 
Commission       on 
Reorganization  of 
Secondary  Educa- 
tion 

3.  Commission  of  the 
Association         of 
Collegiate  Schools 
of    Business    and 
Committee     of 
American       Eco- 
nomic Association 

A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS     589 
THE   NATIONAL  COUNCIL  OF  EDUCATION  PLAN 

The  second  proposal,  in  many  ways  similar  to  the  proposal 
of  the  Collegiate  Schools,  is  "The  Junior  High  School  Program 
of  Studies"  outlined  by  a  subcommittee  of  the  National  Council 
of  Education.^ 

After  emphasizing  the  importance  of  the  junior  high  school 
movement  and  the  experience  which  has  been  gained  from  the 
experiments  from  the  junior  high  school,  the  committee  states 
that  the  program  of  studies  in  the  junior  high  school  should  be  a 
resultant  of  several  forces.^ 

It  should  be  made  up,  in  part,  of  a  continuation  of  the  elemen- 
tary school  curriculum,  but  a  re-view  of  these  courses,  i.e.,  a  new 
view  through  articulation  of  elementary  and  secondary  courses; 
in  part,  a  pre-view  of  secondary  school  courses  of  study,  but  a 
rearrangement  of  such  courses  in  their  "simpler  aspects,  deferring 
the  refinements"  to  later  senior  high  school  grades;  in  part,  a 
prevocational  content  from  the  industrial  and  commercial  fields; 
and,  finally,  a  liberal  amount  of  social  science  materials  and  social 
and  civic  activities  to  the  end  of  giving  to  the  early  adolescent  a 
"self-conscious  social  adjustment."  This  transitional  unit  of  the 
public-school  system  must  preserve  its  contacts  and  become  a 
composite  product  of  the  forces  which  precede  and  follow  it. 

At  the  same  time  the  program  of  studies  of  the  junior  high 
school  is  a  self-contained  unit.  The  point  of  view  of  the  elementary 
curriculum  toward  its  pupils  is  en  masse  to  the  end  that  all  may 
receive  a  usable  knowledge  of  the  common  branches  and  a  sympa- 
thetic understanding  of  the  social  and  civic  structure  of  our  demo- 
cratic society.  Differentiation  of  pupils  into  groups,  so  far  as 
program  of  studies  is  concerned,  prevails  in  the  senior  high  school 
to  the  end  that  individuals  of  each  group  may  receive  training  in 
the  types  of  work  for  which  they  have  aptitudes. 

Following  this  introductor}^  statement  the  committee  gives 
a  more  detailed  view  of  what  should  be  done  in  each  of  the 
periods  of  the  junior  high  school. 

^  The  chairman  of  this  sub-committee  is  James  M.  Glass,  Director 
of  Junior  High  Schools  in  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania.  This 
material  is  used  with  his  permission. 

»  The  following  is  adapted  from  advance  sheets  distributed  by  the 
committee. 


590  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

A.  Adjustment.     Low  Seventh 

A  period  of  adjustment  for  the  very  young  and  immature 
adolescent  of  twelve  years  of  age.  He  must  be  adjusted  to  a  new 
school  organization,  and  to  a  new  type  of  school  administration. 
It  would  seem  wise,  therefore,  to  subject  him  during  the  first 
semester  to  as  little  change  as  possible  in  his  program  of  studies. 
Such  change  as  is  advisable  should  be  restricted  to  the  inevitable 
modification  in  the  courses  of  study  which  are  consequent  to  enlarged 
school  facilities  and  departmentalization.  There  should  be  no 
change  in  the  program  of  studies  occasioned  by  the  introduction 
of  electives.  In  fact  the  tabulated  report  of  the  questionnaire* 
shows  over  50  per  cent  vote  in  favor  of  postponing  electives  to  the 
eighth  year.  Present  practice  gives  little  support  to  any  seventh- 
year  elective. 

B.  Exploration  and  Pre- view  (Apperceptive  Basis  of   Secondary 
Courses).     High  Seventh  and  Low  Eighth 

There  should  be  a  period  of  exploration,  when  there  is  a  pre- 
view of  the  specialized  secondary  school  courses  which  distinguishes 
one  high-school  curriculmn  from  another,  and  when  prevocational 
tryout  is  provided  for  drop-outs.  This  general  introductory  course 
offers  opportunity  for  exploration  of  aptitude  for  the  whole  subject 
field  and  for  a  pre-view  or  apperceptive  basis  for  the  cross-sections 
of  the  subject.  Properly,  therefore,  junior  high  school  courses  are 
designated  as  general  mathematics,  general  science,  world-history, 
and  general  social  science,  pre-vocational  courses,  junior  business 
training,  etc. 

C.  Provisional  Choice  of  Electives.     High  Eighth 

Following  the  period  of  exploration  and  pre-view  there  should 
be  a  period  of  provisional  choice  of  electives.  During  this  period 
facility  of  cross-over  between  electives  should  be  promoted  by  every 
administrative  device  possible  to  the  end  of  guaranteeing  that 
evidence  of  unfitness  for  an  elective  will  be  followed  by  effecting 
a  change  of  electives.  In  case  this  period  of  provisional  choice 
does  not  extend  beyond  one  semester,  there  would  be  justification 
for  postponing  promotion  requirements  in  electives  during  this 
semester. 

^  Questionnaire  in  this  quotation  refers  to  one  used  in  the  investiga- 
tions of  the  committee. — Author. 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS     591 

D.     Stimulation.     Ninth  Year 

Finally,  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  purpose  of  the  junior 
high  school,  to  serve  as  a  transitional  stage  in  the  public  school 
system,  there  must  be  a  period  of  stimulation  to  facilitate  transition 
to  the  senior  high  school.  The  ninth  year  of  the  junior  high  school 
is  primarily  for  the  purpose  of  making  desirable  in  the  estimation 
of  each  pupil  advancement  into  the  next  higher  type  of  school. 
The  ninth  year  carries  on  the  program  selected  after  the  experiment 
of  the  two  previous  grades.  This  stimulation  is  largely  by  the 
agency  of  the  particular  electives  chosen  during  the  periods  of 
exploration  and  provisional  choice. 

This  program  has  its  center  of  interest  in  an  effort  to  keep 
students  in  school.  It  is  a  course  concerned  with  immediate 
educational  guidance  rather  than  with  immediate  vocational 
guidance  or  vocational  training.  The  committee  drawing  the 
report  realized  fully  that  no  program  is  adequate  to  retain  all 
pupils.    The  committee  states: 

Yet  there  are  several  types  of  pupils  who  cannot  be  retained 
and  who  must  inevitably  become  educational  losses  during  or  at 
the  close  of  the  junior  high  school  period.  These  overaged,  retarded, 
and  mentally  unfortunate  groups  are  peculiarly  the  responsibility 
of  the  junior  high  school.  The  latter  must  therefore,  unaided  by 
the  senior  high  school,  offer  special  types  of  training  to  its  own 
residuum  of  pupils  for  whom  advancement  is  impossible  or  impractic- 
able. 

A.     Particular  Need  for  Training  in  Citizenship  for  Drop-Outs 

Particularly  for  these  groups  should  there  be  in  the  program 
of  studies  a  liberal  amount  of  social-science  materials  and  especially 
social  and  civic  activities  so  that  principles  of  social  co-operation 
and  citizenship  may  be  translated  into  conduct  in  the  educational 
period  which  immediately  precedes  the  entrance  of  the  junior  high 
school  drop-outs  into  society  and  active  citizenship. 

If  their  civic-mindedness  is  not  to  be  undermined  by  the  blight- 
ing influence  of  becoming  industrial  misfits  and  consequently 
social  and  civic  cynics,  the  junior  high  school  must  offer  to  these 
overaged  and  backward  groups  occupational  training  sufl&cient  in 
extent  to  assure  initial  vocational  placement.  The  junior  high 
school  can  at  least  serve  as  a  school  of  prevocational  try-out  and 


592  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

thereby  replace,  to  an  extent,  the  shifting  from  job  to  job  in  correct- 
ing industrial  misfits  during  employment.  If  the  junior  high  school 
can  serve,  even  to  a  small  degree  with  the  limited  facilities,  in  the 
prevention  of  industrial  misfits  and  the  consequent  undermining 
of  civic-mindedness,  it  will  earn  a  degree  of  public  confidence  not 
possible  through  any  other  simple  service. 

B.  Occupational  Training  for  Drop-Outs 

Therefore,  the  program  of  studies,  as  the  resultant  of  several 
forces,  includes  a  prevocational  content  partly  for  occupational 
placement  in  the  industrial  and  commercial  fields. 

Vocational  curricida  in  the  junior  high  school,  either  of  a 
commercial  or  industrial  nature,  should  not  represent  a  forced 
growth.  They  must  represent  the  actual  conditions  as  they  exist 
when  the  final  alternative  of  leaving  school  or  choosing  vocational 
training  is  reached.  Whenever  it  is  definitely  determined  by  the 
guidance  agencies  of  the  school  that  this  alternative  is  unavoidable, 
pupils  should  be  transferred  to  these  occupational  courses,  irrespec- 
tive of  grade  classification.  Grade  organization  must  give  way  to 
a  greater  purpose,  that  of  adaptability  of  program  of  studies  tc 
individual  need.  Occupational  courses  are,  therefore,  matters 
almost  wholly  of  individual  adjustment.  Arbitrary  administrative 
regulations  of  promotion,  classification,  and  organization  should 
never  be  permitted  to  conflict  with  demonstrated  individual  needs. 
This  statement  does  not  set  up  an  unsurmountable  administrative 
difficulty;  it  is  a  direct  contradiction  of  an  unwarranted  administra- 
tive practice  which  is  frequently  permitted  to  supersede  individual 
justice  to  pupils.  The  junior  high  school  program  of  studies 
must  insist  upon  the  adoption  of  this  point  of  view,  if  it  would 
promote  equalization  of  educational  opportunity. 

C.  Coaching  Opportunities  for  Retardates 

In  addition  to  occupational  training  offered  by  commercial 
and  industrial  arts  electives  to  some  exceptional  types  of  pupils, 
it  is  also  desirable  that  the  junior  high  school  offer  coaching  oppor- 
timities  to  the  retarded  group  who  represent  the  preventable  but 
inevitable  proportion  of  non-promotions.  This  group  includes 
those  who,  by  lack  of  application,  interest,  or  positive  dislike  for 
the  restricted  opportunities  of  a  single  curriculum,  are  able,  in  the 
light  of  intelligence  tests,  to  maintain  a  creditable  record  of  achieve- 
ment.   The  fact  that  these  preventable  cases  of  subject  failure 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS     593 

have  been  shown  to  amount  to  as  high  as  60  to  75  per  cent  of  all 
conditioned  or  non-promoted  pupils  is  one  evidence  of  the  superior 
reliability  of  intelligence  tes^s  in  measuring  at  least  potential 
achievement.  Study  coach  and  opportunity  classes  or  other  type 
of  coaching  retarded  pupils  have  been  demonstrated  to  be  very 
effective  means  of  increasing  the  retentive  power  of  the  junior  high 
school  and  of  stabilizing  subject  promotion  either  by  semedy  or 
prevention  of  failure. 

D.     Acceleration  and  Enrichment  for  Super-normal 

Still  another  special  group  for  whom  the  junior  high  school 
program  of  studies  should  make  provision  is  the  high  group. 
There  is  an  affirmative  vote  of  over  60  per  cent  in  favor  of  accelera- 
tion. At  the  same  time  72  per  cent  of  the  replies  favor  enrichment 
in  the  program  of  studies  for  the  high  group.  There  is,  therefore, 
some  difference  of  opinion  as  to  whether  it  is  not  preferable,  as  one 
member  of  the  general  committee  states  it,  "to  prolong  the  period  of 
education  and  enrich  the  program  of  studies  for  those  who  are  able 
to  do  their  work  more  easily,  instead  of  putting  a  premium  upon 
shortening  the  time  spent  in  school."  The  writer  of  this  report 
is  of  the  opinion  that  acceleration  should  be  restricted  to  the 
elementary  school.  However,  another  type  of  study  coach  organiza- 
tion may  be  organized  for  the  super-normal  group  to  effect  accelera- 
tion where  it  has  not  already  l^een  achieved  in  the  elementary 
grades;  at  the  same  time,  this  opportunity  class  organization  for 
thfi  high  groups  may  be  administered  to  provide  extension  course 
opportunities  in  an  enriched  program  of  studies.  In  Table  LXIII 
(p.  594)  the  figures  refer  to  hours  required.  The  letters  following 
figures  refer  to  the  interpretations  given  by  committee  in  the  notes 
which  appear  below.    This  is  for  a  six-period  day,  sixty-minute  period. 

a)  Including  spelling  and  penmanship  and  one  period  a  month 
for  library  instruction.  One  or  two  periods  of  time  allotted  to 
school  activities  could  be  used  for  spelling,  penmanship,  and  library 
instruction.  Until  the  school  activities  are  fully  in  operation,  it 
is  desirable  that  this  additional  time  for  English  be  so  used. 

b)  See  R^ort  of  National  Committee  on  Mathematical  Re- 
quirements, Secondary  School  Circular  No.  6,  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion, Washington.  In  the  high  eighth  and  ninth  year,  there  is  an 
option  in  mathematics,  but  no  option  of  mathematics.  Either  gen- 
eral mathematics  or  the  mathematics  of  the  commercial  curriculum 
are  required  of  all  groups. 


594 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


c)  U.S.  history,  or  U.S.  history  and  community  civics. 

d)  Community  civics,  or  U.S.  history  and  community  civics. 

e)  Elementary  science  and  geography  as  a  unit  course,  or  science 
one  period  and  geography  three  periods  approximately. 

/)  Unit  course,  or  science  two  periods  and  geography  one  period 
approximately. 

TABLE  LXIII 

Junior  High  School  Program  of  Studies 


Subject 

Adjust- 
ment 

Exploration  and 
Pre-View 

Provi- 
sional 
Choice 

Stimu- 
lation 

Low 
Seventh 

High 
Seventh 

Low 
Eighth 

4 

Zd 
3 

3« 

High 
Eighth 

43 

1" 

2,d 

2i' 

Ninth 

Required 

English  . 

AC 

4? 

4C 
4 

5 
4A  or 

General  Mathematics 

or 
Commercial  Mathematics 

Social  Studies 

Science 

(Gen.  Sci.) 

Junior  Susiness  Xraining 

4Ay 

Electives 

4i 

tb 
5S 

s 

General  Mathematics 

^ 

Foreign  Languages 

Commercial  Mathematics } 
Commercial  Geography     ) 

Commercial  Mathematics  ? 
Typewriting                        S 

Junior  Business  Training  ) 
Business  Writing                 i 

Bookkeeping         ) 

(£ 

5 

5W 

Business  Writing  ] 

Industrial  Arts      ) 

4X 

Home  Economics  ? 

"V 

Required 

Industrial  Arts 
Agricultural   Home  Eco- 
nomics   

2 

I-I 

I-II 

\m 

so 

2 

I 
I 
I 

5 

2 

I 
5 

2 

I 
I 
I 

s 

2 

a-^ 

I 

¥ 

Art 

I 

Guidance 

I 

D 

Activities 

5 

g)  Elementary  science  introductory  to  general  science  of 
ninth  year. 

h)  All  pupils,  except  those  electing  commercial  courses,  required 
to  take  vocational  and  economic  civics  or  general  social  science. 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSAI.S  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    595 

Commercial  pupils  required  to  take  general  science— their  later 
commercial  courses  will  contain  much  of  economic  civics.  A 
minimum  of  science  will  be  required  in  the  academic  curriculum 
of  the  senior  high  school;  general  science,  therefore,  should  be 
postponed  to  the  tenth  year  for  the  academic  group.  General 
social  science  should  be  required  of  all  groups  in  the  ninth  year 
except  as  indicated  for  the  commercial  group. 

i)  Personal  hygiene,  gymnasium,  directed  games,  etc. 

j)  General  shop  with  progressive  course  of  wood-working  and 
metal  working  through  three  years.  Agriculture  optional  with 
industrial  arts  for  rural  schools.  Home  economics,  including 
sewing,  cooking,  textiles,  laundry,  millinery,  dressmaking,  dress  and 
home  design,  and  home  training. 

k)  All  boys  for  one  term  given  an  actual  trade  shop  experience 
in  a  special  trade  type  of  shop  equipment.  The  vocational  side 
of  practical  arts  stressed  for  one  term  for  both  girls  and  boys. 
Hence  increase  of  time  to  three,  periods. 

/)  Additional  time  for  fine  arts  may  be  provided  by  electing 
special  work  in  school  activities  time,  e.g.,  orchestra  and  chorus 
clubs,  design  and  art  clubs,  musical  or  art  appreciation  clubs,  etc. 

m)  Classroom  instruction  in  educational  or  curriculum  guidance 
— both  educational  and  vocational  information  for  pupils  prior  to 
choice  of  electives. 

n)  Elementary  business  practices  and  principles  common  to 
all  life  careers  and  a  brief  survey  of  commercial  education  and  of 
junior  commercial  occupations. 

0)  Weekly  periods  for  (i)  home  room  period,  (2)  co-operative 
pupil  government,  (3)  school  assembly,  (4)  clubs,  (5)  faculty 
activities  for  professional  study — a  faculty  esprit  de  corps  for  the 
co-operative  solution  of  junior  high  school  problems  of  both  an 
administrative  and  instructional  nature.  Junior  high  school 
teachers  must  be  trained  through  service;  the  most  favorable 
conditions  should  be  established.  Until  the  school  activities 
program  is  in  full  operation,  part  of  the  daily  allotment  of  time 
for  activities  should  be  diverted  to  English,  practical  arts,  fine  arts, 
or  other  curricular  requirement. 

p)  Other  electives  than  those  listed  may  be  provided  in  the 
club  activities,  e.g.,  art,  music,  science,  English,  dramatic,  practical 
arts,  or  social  service  clubs.  The  groups  of  electives  indicate 
partially  differentiated  curricular.     To  facilitate  cross-over  between 


596  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

electives  during  this  term,  it  is  suggested  that  electives  be  made 
provisional,  i.e.,  that  promotion  requirements  in  electives  be 
deferred  to  the  middle  of  the  ninth  year. 

q)  Partially  differentiated  curricula  continued  with  twenty 
periods  devoted  to  constants,  fine  and  practical  arts,  and  activities; 
and  with  ten  periods  devoted  to  electives.  There  are  four  major 
lines  of  curriculum  choice  provided  this  year,  viz.,  the  academic, 
the  commercial,  the  scientific  or  technical,  and  the  vocational. 

r)  Optional  choice  of  Latin  or  one  modern  language.  Small 
schools  should  restrict  choice  to  one  foreign  language.  Eight-year 
course  introductory — vocabulary  building,  social  life  of  people,  etc. 
Earlier  choice  of  a  foreign  language  for  pupils  of  high  I.Q.  is  a  program 
adjustment  for  each  school.  This  earlier  start  of  a  foreign  language 
should  be  an  extension  course  opportunity  in  an  enriched  curriculum 
for  special  or  accelerant  groups. 

s)  First  year  high  school  course. 

/)  Two  periods  of  each. 

u)  Ten  minutes  in  junior  business  training,  twenty  minutes  in 
business  writing. 

v)  Forty  minutes  daily  in  typewriting,  twenty  minutes  in 
commercial  mathematics. 

w)  Forty  minutes  daily  in  bookkeeping,  twenty  minutes  in 
business  writing. 

x)  Four  periods  elective,  plus  the  two  periods  required  in 
constants  of  this  term,  give  a  total  of  six  periods;  five  should  be  in 
special  shops  or  advanced  home  training  and  one  in  drafting  or 
design. 

y)  The  third  group  of  electives  in  the  high  eighth  branches  off 
into  two  curriculum  choices  in  the  ninth  year,  viz.,  first,  the  scientific 
or  technical  curriculum  paralleling  the  academic  in  preparation  for 
higher  institutions,  and  second,  the  vocational  or  trade  curriculum. 
In  the  former  general  science  in  the  ninth  year  replaces  the  practical 
arts  elective  of  the  high  eighth ;  but  practical  arts  is  still  continued 
for  this  and  all  other  non-vocational  gioups  to  the  extent  of  two 
periods  as  a  required  subject. 

z)  Smith-Hughes  curriculum  organized  as  a  ninth-year  elective, 
but  overage  pupils  should  be  transferred  to  this  curriculum  during 
seventh  and  eighth  years,  when  definitely  determined  that  alterna- 
tives of  vocational  curriculum  or  leaving  school  are  unavoidable. 
All  such  transfers  are  problems  of  individual  adjustment.     The 


A  REVIEW  OF  PR0P0SA1,S  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    597 

academic  work  should  include  English,  social  studies,  and  related 
mathematics  for  a  weekly  total  of  ten  periods.  These  pupils  should 
participate  in  school  activities  on  an  equal  basis  with  all  others. 

SOME  FEATURES  OF  THE  NATIONAL  COUNCIL  PROGRAM 

There  are  many  features  of  interest  hi  this  program  of  the 
National  Council.  It  will  be  seen  that  a  first  concern  of  the 
committee  drafting  the  program  under  consideration  was  to 
make  certain  that  "drop-outs"  should  receive  a  liberal  amount 
of  social  science  material  during  the  junior  high  school  period. 
The  committee  is  also  interested  that  the  junior  high  school 
should  offer  to  the  backward  groups  occupational  training 
sufficient  to  insure  initial  vocational  placement.  Most  impor- 
tant in  this  connection,  however,  is  the  stress  which  is  placed 
upon  the  thought  that  occupational  trainmg  should  be  only 
for  the  actual  drop-outs.  As  the  committee  states  it  occupa- 
tional training  "should  not  represent  a  forced  growth."  It 
should  be  given  only  "whenever  it  is  definitely  determmed 
that  this  alternative  [dropping  out  of  school]  is  unavoidable." 

The  proposal  of  this  committee  is  that  whenever  it  becomes 
absolutely  necessary  for  a  student  to  leave  school,  he  should 
be  transferred  to  the  occupational  course  irrespective  of  his 
grade  classification.  This  is  identically  the  right  thing  to  do. 
Such  a  scheme  really  organizes  a  form  of  continuation  school 
in  which  actual  drop-out  students  can  receive  vocational 
work.  The  regular  school  work  is  permitted  to  go  on  during 
its  specialized  job  properly  for  those  who  continue,  not  emascu- 
lating its  usefulness  by  attempting  to  do  all  jobs  at  once. 
Furthermore  such  an  arrangement  places  further  emphasis  on 
the  advantage  of  staying  in  school.  It  is  in  sharp  contrast 
to  the  unit  vocational  courses  which  makes  as  many  opportu- 
nities as  possible  for  leaving  school.  At  the  same  time  this 
plan  offers  full  justice  to  those  who  must  discontinue  regular 
school  life. 

A  POSSIBLE  PROGRAM  WITH  EXISTING  STUDIES 

Whatever  the  future  may  bring  there  is  no  question  that 
the  8-4  form  of  school  organization  is  at  present  the  dominant 


59^  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

one.  The  Commission  placed  its  emphasis  upon  the  junior 
high  school  program,  ''partly  because  the  6-3-3  organization 
seems  likely  to  be  the  dominant  secondary  school  organization 
of  the  future,  and  partly  because  the  coming  in  of  the  6-3-3 
organization  gives  opportunity  to  work  out  a  plan  that  will 
not  be  too  greatly  hampered  by  custom  and  tradition." 

Such  a  thoroughgoing  revision  is  the  most  promising  road 
toward  a  satisfactory  secondary  commercial  curriculum.  There 
will  be  some  for  whom  a  halfway  step  will  be  at  first  more  practi- 
cable. As  an  intermediate  stage  which  furnishes  an  opportunity 
to  experiment  with  the  idea  urged  by  the  commission,  but  with 
existing  materials  and  in  the  regular  four-year  high  school  course, 
a  program,  which  can  be  considerably  modified  in  detail  to  fit 
individual  schools,  is  suggested  below: 

FIRST   YEAR 

1.  EngKsh 

2.  General  Mathematics 

3.  Science — General  or  Physiography 

4.  Social  Science — Community  life,  vocations,  civics,  or  preferably 

one  of  the  better  combinations  of  these.     This  can  readily  be 
made  to  include  a  general  survey  of  history 

5.  Physical  Education 

SECOND   YEAR 

1.  English 

2.  General  Mathematics 

3.  Science — Geography,  Commercial  or  of  North  America 

4.  Social  Science — General  history,  if  this  was  not  attempted  in  the 
first  year,  or  medieval  or  modem  or  United  States  History  or  some 
combination 

5.  Physical  Education 

THIRD   YEAR 

1.  English 

2.  Elementary  Accounting,  making  the  course  as  much  as  possible 
a  course  in  business-administration  problems  in  which  the  need 
for  accounting  and  accounting  as  a  tool  of  control  is  shown  more 
emphatically  than  the  details  of  bookkeeping 

3.  Science — Physics  or  Chemistry  (Botany,  Zoology  or  domestic 
science  may  well  be  made  optional  for  girls) 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    599 

4.  Social  Science — Industrial  History,  or  History  of  Commerce  first 
semester,  and  Economic  Organization  the  second  semester,  or 
Economic  Organization  with  a  historical  introduction  throughout 
the  year 

5.  Physical  Education 

FOURTH  YEAR 

1.  English  or  Public  Speaking 

2.  Social  Science — Civics  the  first  semester,  and  Commercial  Law 
the  second 

3  and  4.  Any  two  of  the  following,  varying  with  the  student 's  voca- 
tional interests  at  the  time:  Accoimting;  Stenography;  Type- 
writing; Co-operative  Office  Work  (this  could  well  include  some 
typewriting) ;  Retail  Selling,  co-operative  if  possible;  almost  any 
elective  studies  for  which  the  student  has  the  prerequisites 

5.  Physical  Education 

This  program,  which  was  used  with  success  in  one  high 
school  some  ten  or  twelve  years  ago,  was  based  on  the  idea  that 
living  and  business  are  processes  of  adjustment  in  a  dual  environ- 
ment, social  and  physical.  There  is,  therefore,  throughout 
the  four  years  a  continuous  study  of  existing  materials  which 
represent  these  two  areas  of  contact.  There  is,  moreover,  an 
attempt  to  make  the  touch  with  these  fields  develop  from  the 
more  generalized  to  the  more  particular.  It  will  be  noticed,  for 
example,  that  the  study  of  science  moves  from  general  science  or 
a  general  study  of  earth  structures  to  more  special  studies;  social 
science  study  moves  also  from  general  history  or  a  general  study 
of  institutions  to  social  science  study  in  more  specialized  forms. 
Industrial  history  was  used  as  a  background  for  economics. 
Govemmenf  was  studied  after  economics  on  the  assumption 
that  government 's  chief  function  is  to  assist  in  sustaining,  guid- 
ing, and  controlling  the  economic  process.  Finally  came  the 
brief  study  of  law  as  the  chief  social  device  used  by  the  social 
device  of  government.  There  was,  as  this  indicates,  something 
of  viewpoint  as  well  as  content  emphasized  in  the  course  and 
the  constant  emphasis  of  viewpoint  was  an  important  factor 
in  the  results. 

The  appearance  of  new  material  and  definite  indications  of 
other  work  in  prospect  make  it  pertinent  to  suggest  one  further 


OOO  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

possible  course.  In  nearly  every  way  excepting  the  treatment 
of  the  social  sciences  it  is  similar  to  the  course  just  outlined. 
In  its  treatment  of  the  social  sciences,  however,  there  is  a 
definite  change.  This  work  has  been  speciaUzed  into  certain 
groups  of  subjects  and  organized  with  a  definite  plan  in  mind. 

FIRST  YEAR 

1.  English 

2.  General  Mathematics  or  History  or  elective 

3.  Science — General  or  Physiography 

4.  Introduction  to  Business  Studies — A  survey  which  shows  the  need 
and  sketches  the  history  of  social  organization;  business  and 
government  as  methods  of  organizing  and  the  types  of  vocations 
resulting 

5.  Physical  Education 

SECOND   YEAR 

1.  EngHsh 

2.  General  Mathematics  or  History  or  elective 

3.  Science — Geography,  Commercial  or  of  North  America 

4.  Marketing  in  Our  Society — First  Semester 
Finance  in  Our  Society— Second  Semester 

5.  Physical  Education 

THIRD  YEAR 

1.  English 

2.  Production  Processes — Agricultural  and  Manufacturing — First 
Semester;  Accounting  as  a  Control — Second  Semester 

3.  Physics  or  Chemistry  or  perhaps  Psychology  (Botany,  Zoology, 
or  Domestic  Science  may  well  be  made  optional  for  girls) 

4.  Political  History  or  Economic  History  and  Economic  Organization 
or  Economic  Organization  with  a  historical  introduction  through- 
out the  year.    Another  option  might  be  Psychology. 

5.  Physical  Education 

FOURTH  YEAR 

1.  EngUsh  or  Business  Communication  or  Public  Speaking  or  a 
combination  of  these 

2.  Labor  and  Labor  Problems  or  Civics  the  first  semester  and  Com- 
mercial Law  the  second  or  Business  and  Government  or  PoHtical 
History  or  Economic  Organization  might  be  given  with  options 

3  and  4.  Any  two  of  the  following,  varying  with  the  student's  voca- 
tional interests  at  the  time:  Accounting;  Stenography;  Business 
Correspondence;  Typewriting;  Co-operative  Office  Work  (this 
could  well  include  some  typewriting) ;  Retail  Selling,  co-operative 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    601 

if  possible;  almost  any  elective  studies  for  which  the  student  has 
the  prerequisites 
5.  Physical  Education 

The  problem  with  social  science  in  the  above  course  as  always, 
is  to  give  such  a  description  and  discussion  of  social  phenomena 
as  will  interpret  the  Hfe  of  which  we  are  a  part.  This  may  be 
attempted  in  various  ways;  indeed,  the  present  number  of  books 
treating  social  science  in  different  ways  is  striking.  All  recognize 
more  and  more  the  interdependence  of  phenomena. 

It  would  in  some  ways  be  desirable  to  study  the  whole 
complex  at  once,  having  in  the  first  year  a  social  science  i,  in 
the  second  year  a  social  science  2,  and  so  on.  But  such  a 
scheme  has  great  practical  difficulties.  One  of  the  greatest  is 
to  grade  the  material.  Another  is  to  find  teachers  who  can 
work  well  through  the  whole  range  of  material  involved.  In 
the  plan  outlined  the  whole  complex  has  been  broken  iRto 
certain  fields.  The  underlying  thought  appears  to  be  that 
there  is  a  large  amount  of  data  that  can  be  intelligently  organized 
under  certain  heads  such  as  Marketing,  Finance,  Production, 
and  Labor  Problems,  and  which  can  at  the  same  time  be  taught 
with  adequate  attention  to  relationships.  Accounting  is  pro- 
posed as  a  study  of  the  records  used  in  effecting  a  general  con- 
trol and  co-ordination  of  the  work  of  marketing,  finance,  and 
production,  studied  earlier.  Much  of  the  record-keeping  which 
is  of  importance  to  these  fields  alone  can  be  taught  directly  in 
the  courses  dealing  with  them. 

The  course  as  a  whole  offers  a  considerable  number  of 
options  and  should  be  regarded  as  a  statement  of  a  plan  to  be 
used  with  a  great  deal  of  adaptation  if  necessary.  It  is,  how- 
ever, a  scheme  planned  for  students  who  are  expected  to  "go 
through."  In  it  certain  subjects  such  as  accounting  are  dehber- 
ately  postponed  until  the  time  when  it  is  believed  they  can  be 
taught  best. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  in  appraising  the  course  that 
the  work  in  marketing,  finance,  and  production  are  thought  of 
as  chiefly  descriptive.  Many  of  the  finer  points  in  these  studies 
would  need  to  be  omitted. 


6o2  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

III.  A  consideration  of  the  technical  work  that  must  be 
given.  The  third  question  which  presses  for  solution  in  the 
secondary  commercial  course  is  what  to  do  with  the  technical 
work.  We  are  as  yet  largely  uninformed  as  to  the  best  methods, 
the  proper  amount  of  time,  the  proper  periods  for  study  and 
practice,  in  learning  such  subjects  as  stenography,  typewriting, 
and  machine  operation.  So  long,  then,  as  we  think  of  the  tech- 
nical courses  in  terms  of  existing  work,  such  as  typewriting  and 
stenography,  studies  of  the  technique  of  teaching  are  the  chief 
need.  But  there  is  also  need  for  studies  to  determine  what 
technical  courses  should  be  given.  It  has  been  made  fairly 
certain  that  stenography  and  typewriting  have  little  sanction 
save  from  tradition.  What  should  take  their  place  or  be  given 
in  addition  in  the  high  school  ?  There  is  no  wholly  satisfactory 
answer,  because  such  answers  as  we  have  are  practically  with- 
out exception  merely  statements  of  jobs  which  exist  in  business. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  again  that  the  immediate  voca- 
tional training  for  such  jobs  can  better  be  given  by  industry  or 
some  auxiliary  school  agency  than  it  can  by  a  general  high-school 
course.  It  is  therefore  an  open  question  as  to  whether  any  tech- 
nical courses  in  the  narrow  sense  should  ultimately  be  given  in 
the  general  high-school  course.  The  weight  of  evidence  is 
in  favor  of  the  negative. 

We  can  come  to  a  satisfactory  conclusion  on  this  matter 
only  by  making  a  survey  of  business,  not  only  to  discover  what 
jobs  exist  but  to  discover  what  ones  of  these  jobs  are  not  sus- 
ceptible to  economical  training  after  emplo3mient.  For  spe- 
cialized work  it  is  as  appropriate  that  a  business  furnish  its  own 
training  as  that  it  furnish  its  own  light,  space,  equipment,  or 
labor.  (See  also  pages  311,  325,  357,  473,  498,  524,  53i-) 
A  ''liberal"  commercial  course 

We  tend,  then,  toward  a  high-school  commercial  course 
from  which  the  amount  of  technical  work  has  been  largely  taken 
by  other  institutions  better  adapted  to  the  task,  and  in  which 
there  has  been  introduced  a  large  amount  of  new  material. 
This  new  material,  which  in  a  general  way  may  be  designated 
as  "social"  and  ''scientific,"  must  not  be  confused  with  the 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS    603 

content  of  typical  courses  in  history,  civics,  economics,  and 
sociology,  or  with  physics,  chemistry,  and  botany.  The  new 
material  must  draw  from  all  of  these  studies  and  from  many 
others,  but  it  must  be  organized  in  a  new  way  and  with  a  new 
view.  The  essence  of  the  new  view  may  be  called  functional. 
The  student  must  early  be  shown  that  organized  human  living 
together  is  a  process.  In  this  process  much  occurs  because  of 
accident;  much  is  unguided.  But  of  certain  ends,  as,  for 
example,  the  necessity  of  creating  a  certain  amount  of  want- 
gratifying  goods,  we  may  be  sure.  Of  other  objectives  we  hold 
tentative  if  not  final  opinions.  The  highest  human  goal  is  to 
objectify  living;  to  make  us  conscious  of  social  process,  to 
enable  us  to  control  the  process  of  social  life.  To  make  the 
economic  process  clear,  to  objectify  what  business  is  and  its  fimc- 
tion,  merits,  and  deficiencies  in  the  whole  work  of  social  life, 
becomes  the  principle  upon  which  a  curriculum  of  business  edu- 
cation, publicly  supported,  must  be  framed.  Sciences,  financial 
institutions,  industries,  mercantile  establishments,  law,  govern- 
ment, business — these  are  nothing  but  means  to  aid  us  in 
accomplishing  our  known  or  unrealized  himian  aims.  To  see 
these  and  other  human  institutions  as  tools  to  be  used  and  remade 
and  used  again  is  a  proper  goal  of  business  education. 

From  such  a  knowledge  comes  at  once  an  ability  to  under- 
stand the  imphcations  of  technique,  to  use  the  institutions  for 
business  administrative  purposes  and  an  abihty  to  remake  them 
better  to  serve.  Incidentally  from  such  a  knowledge  there  comes 
a  view  of  purposes  themselves  which  aids  society  in  revision. 

Such  a  course  in  business  education,  even  if  it  were  concluded 
by  certain  technical  work,  would  bear  Uttle.  resemblance  to 
existing  courses  in  any  department  of  high  schools.  If  there 
can  be  organized  a  business  course  which  will  relate  vocation 
to  the  varied  phases  of  individual  and  social  living  and  which 
will  make  clear  the  social  meanings  of  a  specialized  society 
there  will  not  only  be  a  vastly  improved  training  for  business, 
but  there  will  be  created  a  general  education  more  liberal  and 
truly  cultural  than  is  now  offered  in  the  departments  devoted 
to  the  achievement  of  those  high  goals. 


^°4  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

QUESTIONS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

1.  Is  there  anything  to  be  gained  by  a  review  of  the  efforts  to  revise 
the  commercial  curriculum  ? 

2.  What  were  the  statements  of  principles  laid  down  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  Nine  concerning  the  commercial  course  in  public 
schools  ?  Do  these  principles  convey  to  you  a  narrow  or  broad 
point  of  view  concerning  the  course  ? 

3.  How  would  you  characterize  the  course  proposed  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  Nine  ? 

4.  Indicate  the  amount  of  academic  work,  social-science  work,  and 
science  work  in  each  year  of  the  proposed  course. 

5.  How  did  the  course  offered  by  Superintendent  Parker  differ  from 
the  course  outlined  by  the  Committee  of  Nine  ? 

6.  Did  the  high-school  commercial  course  become  more  or  less 
technical  between  1900  and  1915?  How  would  you  account 
for  the  change  which  occurred  ? 

7.  "Aside  from  the  undue  amount  of  emphasis  placed  on  technical 
work,  its  chief  weakness  is  its  lack  of  definite  building  toward 
anything  in  particular."  To  which  ones  of  the  courses  examined 
might  this  statement  be  applied  ? 

8.  To  the  extent  that  social  sciences  are  offered  in  the  first  two 
courses  proposed  by  the  National  Education  Association,  does 
it  appear  that  they  would  give  the  student  an  adequate  notion 
of  the  organization  of  modem  society  ? 

9.  What  were  the  criticisms  of  existing  commercial  work  expressed 
by  the  National  Education  Association  report  for  191 9?  What 
were  the  statements  of  the  committee  reporting  in  1919  concern- 
ing what  the  conmiercial  course  should  do  ? 

10.  Examine  the  course  outhned  by  the  National  Education  Associa- 
tion committee  reporting  in  19 19.  How  well  do  you  feel  that  it 
achieves  the  purposes  proposed  by  the  committee  ? 

11.  How  would  you  characterize  the  report  proposed  by  the  National 
Education  Association  in  1 919? 

12.  The  amount  of  required  work  in  the  1919  course  is  larger.  Is 
this,  in  your  mind,  an  advantage  or  the  reverse  ? 

13.  The  Federal  Board's  proposals  made  in  1919  conclude:  "Know  the 
needs  of  your  students  in  the  light  of  local  business  opportunities 
and  meet  those  needs  as  fully  as  the  financial  support  of  the  local 
school  board  will  permit."     Conunent. 


A  REVIEW  OF  PROPOSALS  AND  SOME  CONCLUSIONS     605 

14.  Why  does  the  Federal  Board  begin  to  outline  a  commercial  course 
beginning  with  the  seventh  year?  How  would  you  character- 
ize the  Federal  Board's  proposed  program  ? 

15.  What  is  your  reaction  to  the  proposed  differentiation  and  special- 
ization in  the  last  two  years  of  the  proposed  course  ? 

16.  The  course  is  criticized  on  the  ground  that  "no  survey  of  business 
requirements  is  alone  sufficient  basis  upon  which  to  determine 
the  curriculum  for  a  secondary  course."  Is  this  a  justifiable 
criticism?  If  you  believe  this  criticism  justified,  what  else 
should  be  the  basis  for  such  a  course  ? 

17.  "It  does  not  follow  that  everything  that  is  needed  or  wanted  by 
business  should  be  given  by  the  regular  commercial  course." 
Would  you  agree  or  should  the  wants  of  business  invariably  be 
met  by  the  high-school  business  course  ? 

18.  "The  unit  idea  applied  to  the  secondary  commercial  course  is 
open  to  criticism."    To  what  criticisms  ? 

19.  "Unit  courses  in  the  secondary  school  is  the  only  plan  which  will 
save  students  from  the  business  college."  Does  this  statement, 
if  true,  justify  unit  courses  ? 

20.  The  real  costs  to  the  community  of  giving  technical  training  by 
means  of  the  corporation  school  may  be  much  less  than  the  cost 
of  giving  such  technical  training  in  the  high  school.  How  is  this 
possible?  If  it  is  possible,  is  it  a  reason  for  taking  technical 
courses  out  of  the  high  school  ? 

21.  The  greatest  gain  in  giving  institutions  other  than  the  high  school 
more  of  the  required  technical  work  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  high 
school  is  made  available  for  work  which  cannot  be  done  else- 
where.    Explain. 

22.  "Any  family  which  can  afford  to  keep  its  children  in  high  school 
for  two  years  cannot  afford  to  have  those  two  years  occupied 
merely  with  a  narrow  clerical  training,"    Explain.    Do  you  agree? 

23.  Outline  the  steps  taken  in  answering  the  question,  What  should 
be  done  with  the  high-school  commercial  course?  WTiy  does 
the  collegiate  school  of  business  program  begin  with  the  seventh 
grade?  Contrast  the  proposals  in  this  program  with  the  pro- 
posals of  the  Federal  Board.  What  are  the  outstanding  differ- 
ences? How  would  you  characterize  the  program  proposed  by 
the  collegiate  schools  of  business  commission  ? 

24.  Does  the  program  outlined  by  the  collegiate  school  of  business 
commission  offer  a  plan  of  courses  that  would  enable  a  high-school 
student  to  comprehend  what  business  is  ? 


6p6  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

25.  Does  it  seem  to  you  that  the  collegiate  commission  has  outlined 
material  which,  if  simply  presented,  is  beyond  the  comprehension 
of  the  high-school  student  ? 

26.  Does  it  seem  to  you  that  the  material  outlined  by  the  collegiate 
commission  would,  if  covered,  give  a  respectable  vision  of  those 
fields  in  which  a  business  man 's  problems  lie  ? 

27.  Making  decisions,  exercising  sound  judgment,  is  largely  a  matter 
of  being  familiar  with  the  facts  about  which  judgments  must  be 
made.  Would  you  agree  ?  Would  the  statement  apply  to  busi- 
ness judgments  ?    If  you  do,  consider  question  26  again. 

28.  The  plan  of  the  National  Council  of  Education,  like  that  of  the 
Collegiate  Schools,  emphasizes  the  importance  of  the  junior  high 
school.     On  what  grounds  ? 

29.  The  committee  of  the  National  Council  says  that  the  junior  high 
school  course  should  be  a  resultant  of  several  forces.  What 
forces  ? 

30.  Just  what  does  the  National  Council  Committee  propose  for  "low 
seventh,"  "high  seventh  and  low  eighth,"  "high  eighth,"  "ninth 
year"? 

3 1 .  What  do  you  understand  by  the  "  provisional  choice  of  electives  "  ? 

32.  "Vocational  curricula  in  the  junior  high  school  should  not  repre- 
sent a  forced  growth. "^  Explain.  Do  you  think  vocational  unit 
courses  are  such  a  forced  growth  ? 

S3.  "Vocational  courses  must  represent  conditions  when  the  final 
alternative  of  leaving  school  or  choosing  vocational  training  is 
reached."  Contrast  this  principle  with  the  vocational  unit 
course  idea.  Is  there  any  reason  why  the  same  principle  is  not 
applicable  through  most  of  the  senior  high  school  ? 

34.  Compare  in  as  many  respects  as  possible  the  treatment  of  voca- 
tional studies  in  the  proposals  of  (i)  the  Federal  Board,  (2)  the 
Collegiate  School's  Commission  (3)  the  National  Council's  Com- 
mittee. 

35.  Make  similar  comparisons  for  the  treatment  of  social-business 
material. 

36.  Examine  the  course  which  is  suggested,  making  use  of  existuig 
materials.  Would  these  courses  be  possible  in  any  school  with 
which  you  are  familiar  ?  To  what  extent  would  they  accomplish 
the  purposes  proposed  by  the  collegiate  school's  commission  ? 

37.  What  is  meant  by  saying  that  a  properly  organized  commercial 
course  would  be  more  liberal  and  cultural  than  any  course  now 
given  in  any  department  of  secondary  schools  ? 


CHAPTER  XXII 

\  PLAN  OF  ORGANIZED  SPECIALIZATION  FOR 
A  CITY  SYSTEM 

Suppose  that  we  attempt  to  make  an  application  of  the  con- 
clusions reached  in  the  foregoing  chapters  to  a  more  or  less 
idealized  city  situation.  Two  main  conclusions  (see  pp.  576-82) 
from  which  we  may  derive  principles  have  been  reached: 

1.  Education  for  business  has  two  outstanding  objectives: 

a)  To  give  an  understanding  of  the  relationships  which  result 
from  specialization  of  business  units;  particularly  to  give  an 
understanding  of  the  adjustments  to  other  related  businesses 
which  must  be  effected  by  any  business  man  (chap.  iv). 

b)  To  give  a  training  in  the  specialized  techniques  which  result  from 
the  high  degree  of  specialization  within  business  units  (chap.  v). 

2.  Institutions  offering  training  in  business  have  developed  in  great 
variety.  Although  almost  all  of  them  offer  to  undertake  all  the 
job,  most  of  them  actually  train  largely  in  technique.  But  some 
institutions  are  in  a  position  where  they  can  be  used  to  train  well 
in  technique  and  m  that  alone.  Examples  are  the  corporation 
school,  to  a  certain  extent  the  business  colleges  and  other  private 
schools,  the  continuation  school  and,  very  importantly,  the  "post- 
grad" course  and  "drop  out"  courses  of  the  high  school.  Other 
courses  are  in  a  position  where  they  can  be  used  to  train  in  technique 
but  where  they  can  also  be  used  to  train  in  relationships. 

The  outstanding  example  of  an  institution  which  can  give 
either  type  of  training  is  the  four-year  high-school  commercial 
course.  But,  since  it  is  almost  the  only  institution  below  the  col- 
lege level  that  can  be  effectively  used  to  yield  training  in  rela- 
tionships it  should  be  deliberately  used  for  that  purpose.  The 
decision  for  such  a  use  is  further  fortified  by  the  fact  that  it  is  con- 
sistent with  fundamental  purposes  of  pubHc  education  (chap.  ix). 

This  means,  then,  a  specialization  of  our  educational  institu- 
tions. The  institutions  are  not  in  each  case  coincident  with 
school  buildings.  For  example,  the  "short  commercial  course," 
the  "drop  out"  courses,  the  "four  year  commercial  course,"  the 
"last  year  intensive  or  postgraduate  intensive  technical  course," 

607 


6o8 


EDUCATION   FOR  BUSINESS 


may  all  be  given  under  the  roof  of  one  high  school,  but  are 
distinct  institutions  in  the  sense  in  which  the  term  is  used  here. 

The  required  speciahzation  of  educational  institutions  will 
demand  planning  and  organization.  The  directors  of  educa- 
tional movements,  however,  are  no  strangers  to  such  work. 
They  have  brought  about  the  specialization  of  buildings  and 
teachers  now  common  in  almost  every  school.  They  will 
anticipate  a  rearrangement  of  habits  of  thinking  and  will  not 
hesitate  to  put  old  institutions  to  new  uses. 

A  general  program  for  a  city  (appKcable  in  just  this  way 
perhaps  to  no  specific  city,  but  in  general  to  all)  might  be  charted 
in  the  following  way: 

OBJECTIVES  OF  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


Understanding  of 

Relationships 

(The  relationship  of  one 
business  unit  to  others  and  of 
one  task  within  a  business 
to  other  tasks)  (See  chap- 
ters iv  and  v) 


Skill  in  a  Specialized 

Technique 

(This  might  be  a  broad 
technique  such  as  stenog- 
raphy or  it  might  be  merely 
the  skill  to  do  well  a  single 
operation  in  a  large  firm's 
accoimting  system) 


This  job  should  be  assigned  to 
the  four-year  high-school  com- 
mercial course.  This  institution 
should  attempt  to  do  this  work 
if  it  does  nothing  else.  At  least 
the  first  three  years  must  be 
devoted  to  it;  much  better  all 
four.  (For  complete  discussion 
of  the  high  school's  rdle  see  chap- 
ters XV  and  xxi) 


2. 


3. 


This  job  should  be  assigned 
according  to  circumstances,  to: 

A.  Super  schools 

I.  The  business  colleges  and 
other  private  schools  (for 
role,  see  pp.  311) 
The  Corporation  school 
(for  role,  see  pp.  357) 
The  continuation  school 
(for  role,  see  pp.  473) 

4.  Evening  schools  (for  r61e 
see  pp.  524) 

B.  Technical  courses  for  "drop 
outs."  Technical  courses  of 
appropriate  type  for  drop  outs 
at  every  level  of  the  high-school 
course  should  be  created  See 
pp.  591-92.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  many  such  courses 
alreadv  exist 


SPECIALIZATION  FOR  A  CITY  SYSTEM 


609 


If  this  plan  were  applied  to  a  city  system,  the  organization 
of  work  might  be  charted  in  this  way: 


FOUR- YEAR   HIGH-SCHOOL 
COMMERCIAL  COURSE^ 

Concerned,  as  far  as  business 
training  is  considered,  with  giv- 
ing an  understanding  of  the  rela- 
tionships of  a  business. 
Purposes: 

1.  Aid  in  understanding  use  of 
technique. 

2.  Aid  in  workers'  promotion 
through  knowing  functions 
of  business. 

3  Aid  in  possible  entry  into 
business  management  at  a 
later  date. 

4.  Aid  in  understanding  of 
one's  relations  in  a  special- 
ized business  and  a  special- 
•  ized  world. 


SUPER  SCHOOLS 


'  The  same  course  whether  in  gen- 
eral high  schools  or  high  schools  of 
commerce.  It  is  the  course  not  the 
building  that  is  specialized  for  the 
purpose.  In  one  city  where  such  an 
arrangement  as  the  one  here  pro- 
posed is  being  considered,  it  has 
been  suggested  that  the  commercial 
high-school  building  shall  be  used  to 
house  the  drop-out  students  and 
shall  be  frankly  called  "Technical 
School  for  Drop  Out  Students." 


Corporation  Schools 
Private  Schools 


These  not 
part  of 
the  public 
school  sys- 
tem— not 
subject  to 
public 
school  con- 
.  trol. 

Evening  Schools 

Continuation  Schools 

TECHNICAL  COURSES  FOR 
DROP  OUTS 

(See  pp.  591-92) 
Postgraduate    Course — Tech- 
nical subjects  appropriate  for 
high   school    graduates.     (See 
pp.  527-72). 

Fourth- Year  Technical  Courses 
— ^Technical  subjects  appro- 
priate for  students  at  this  level. 
(The  above  two  should  be  co- 
operative courses  when  they  are 
retaU  selling  or  it  is  otherwise 
appropriate) 

Third- Year  Technical  Courses 
Subjects  appropriate  for  stu- 
dents who  must  drop  out  at 
this  level. 

One-  or  two-year  technical 
courses.  Elementary  tech- 
nical subjects  appropriate  for 
students  who  must  drop  out 
without  entering  the  general 
courses  of  high  school  or  after 
one  year  of  it.  These  courses 
can,  of  course,  be  differentiated 
for  these  two  groups  if  thought 
desirable.  The  continuation 
school  laws  of  many  states, 
which  require  school  attend- 
ance past  this  point,  should 
make  those  courses  decreas- 
ingly  important. 


6io  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

Another  chart  showing  the  flow  of  students  in  such  a  system ; 


ipauiaDuoD  St  uopBonpa  ssauisnq  sb  jbj  og 


SPECIALIZATION  FOR  A  CITY  SYSTEM  6il 

The  chart  above  shows  all  the  training  travels  which,  with 
such  a  plan,  might  be  mapped  out  for  students  leaving  the 
elementary  schools.  They  would  leave  the  elementary  schools 
at  point  A,  If  they  were  forced  for  any  reason  to  abandon 
the  educative  process,  and  if  they  lived  in  a  state  where  they 
were  permitted  by  law  to  do  so,  they  might  travel  directly 
toward  occupation,  conamitting  themselves  for  the  future,  over 
routes  I,  2,  3,  and  4  to  what  training  they  could  get  from  schools 
in  industry,  business  colleges,  and  other  private  schools  or  public 
evening  and  continuation  schools.  This  would  be  the  least  desir- 
able procedure  from  an  educational  standpoint. 

A  second  possible  direction  of  travel  for  those  who  abandoned 
the  educative  process  at  point  A  would  be  the  right  turn  toward 
C  to  a  one-  or  two-year  technical  course.  The  evidence  is 
clear  that  such  a  course  should  not  be  typing  and  stenography 
as  it  has  usually  been  (see  chapter  viii,  especially  pp.  148).  It 
should  be  technical  work  of  the  sort  these  thirteen-  to  fifteen-year 
old  children  may  be  hired  to  do.  The  various  types  of  "super- 
school"  possibihties  for  further  work  after  completing  the 
technical  course  are  still  at  hand.     Route  9  is  the  channel. 

The  third  chance  (from  point  A  again),  the  one  encouraged 
by  though tfulness  and  enforced  by  law  in  most  states,  is  to  the 
left,  to  point  B,  toward  the  high-school  course.  From  B,  where 
the  four-year  course,  which  is  one  of  broad  business  study,  begins, 
other  alternatives  are  possible.  The  most  obvious  one  of  all  is 
to  go  straight  through  the  four  years.  From,  graduation,  point 
G,  college  is  open  or  the  corporation  school,  private  school, 
evenmg,  and  continuation  school  group  are  possibilities  for 
special  training.  Or  the  graduate,  over  route  5,  may  reach  a 
brief  intensive  course  in  vocational  sharpening  in  the  post- 
graduate technical  course.  Here,  he  should  take  the  kind  of 
technique — retail  selling,  stenography,  or  what  not — appropriate 
to  his  age  and  education. 

But  if  the  student  enters  high  school  and  cannot  go  through, 
the  need  for  vocational  skill  is  not  neglected.  It  is  provided  in 
as  brief  and  intensive  a  course  as  can  be  used  to  give  the  voca- 
tional sharpening  appropriate  to  his  age  and  education  at  the  leveJ 


6l2  EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 

on  which  he  definitely  drops  the  educative  process  as  such  and 
prepares  to  enter  industry.  This  may  be  at  the  end  of,  or  during 
any  year.  Routes  6,  7,  and  8  show  the  way.  Once  through  the 
technical  course,  he  still  may  use  some  or  all  of  the  super  schools 
to  possible  advantage.     Route  9  is  the  outlet. 

It  may  be  well  to  say  a  word  here  in  further  explanation 
of  the  ''drop-out"  courses.  They  are  really  nothing  but  post- 
graduate technical  courses  distributed  for  all.  We  are  no 
disturbed  by  the  notion  of  technical  courses  for  "drop  outs" 
when  they  are  called  postgraduate  or  two-year  high-school  courses. 
We  are  in  the  habit  of  thinking  of  students  dropping  out  of  the 
general  educative  process  at  the  eighth  grade  and  at  the  end  of 
high  school.  If  we  provide  appropriate  drop-out  technical 
courses  at  every  level  of  the  high  school,  we  shall  not  force  those 
who  fear  they  may  not  be  able  to  go  completely  through  high 
school  to  take  the  short  commercial  course,  thus  really  dropping 
out  at  the  end  of  the  eighth  grade.  Much  more  important  is  the 
fact  that  we  shall  not  be  guilty  of  the  preposterous  waste  pro- 
posed by  some  of  making  every  child  take  a  large  amount  of 
technical  work  every  year  as  insurance  against  the  chance  that 
he  may  have  to  drop  out.  Consider  saying  to  every  child  who 
enters  the  four-year  commercial  course,  "You  may  drop  out. 
At  present  you  do  not  expect  to,  but  you  may,  therefore,  take  a 
large  amount  of  technical  v/ork  so  that  if  you  do  drop  out,  you 
will  be  prepared."  At  the  beginning  of  each  high-school  year 
a  similar  statement  is  made  to  him.  Thus  he  may  go  through 
the  four  years  doing  Uttle  but  insuring  himself  against  a  possi- 
bility which  he  did  not  expect  would  happen  and  which,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  never  did  occur. 

But  suppose  we  do  require  a  "safe"  amount  of  technique 
in  each  year,  and  suppose  the  student  does  drop  out,  say  at  the 
end  of  the  third  year,  as  of  course,  many  really  do  at  the  end  of 
each  year.  We  have,  with  such  a  plan,  taken  a  large  section  of 
his  time  during  each  year  to  teach  him  technique  fit  only  for  a 
level  at  which  he  did  not  quit  school.  All  those  who  do  not  quit 
are  thus  forced  to  take  a  large  dose  of  insurance  to  cover  those 


SPECIALIZATION  FOR  A  CITY  SYSTEM  613 

who  drop  out.  Even  if  we  assume  that  a  third  drop  at  the  end 
of  the  first  year,  two-thirds  have  had  their  time  at  least  partly 
occupied  with  the  technique  appropriate  for  fourteen-year  olds. 
They  will  then,  on  the  same  principle,  enter  the  second  year  learn- 
ing (for  protection)  the  technique  appropriate  to  fifteen-year  olds. 
A  similar  action  will  be  repeated  each  year.  Finally,  if  graduat- 
ing or  even  advancing  far  in  high  school,  they  will  leave  behind 
them  a  good  record  of  techniques  learned  but  useless  because 
they  have  outgrown  them.  And  during  the  period  their  time 
"  will  have  been  too  much  occupied  to  have  learned  much  about 
relationships. 

A  far  more  economical  use  of  time  and  resources  is  to  put 
students  who  think  they  tnay  be  able  to  stay  in  school  more 
than  one  year  into  a  four-year  course  devoid  of  technique  and 
protect  those  who  find  it  necessary  to  drop  out  by  having  brief, 
intensive  courses  in  technique  ready  for  them  when  they  must 
quit.  These  drop-out  courses  could  give  the  technique  at  the 
level  when  it  would  he  used  and  then  only.  Concerning  voca- 
tional education  it  is  doubtful  if  a  more  useful  thought  was  ever 
expressed  than  that  of  James  M.  Glass,  director  of  junior  high 
schools  in  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  when  he  said: 

Vocational  curricula  in  the  junior  high  school,  either  of  a.  com- 
mercial or  industrial  nature,  should  not  represent  a  forced  growth. 
They  must  represent  the  actual  conditions  as  they  exist  when  the 
final  alternative  of  leaving  school  or  choosing  a  vocation  is  reached. 
Whenever  it  is  definitely  determined  by  the  guidance  agencies  of  the 
school  that  this  alternative  is  unavoidable,  pupils  should  be  trans- 
ferred to  these  occupational  courses  irrespective  of  grade  classification. 

This  principle  is  as  appUcable  to  senior  high  schools  as  to 
lower  grades.  It  is  a  philosophy  which  must  he  behind  a  plan 
of  organized  specialization  of  institutions  directed  toward  the 
attainment  of  definite  objectives. 


IND£X 


INDEX 


Accountants,  cost,  educational  needs 

of,  8s 
Accounting  course.  Federal  Board, 

568-69;    four-year,  443;    N.E.A., 

550,  552-53 
Adjustments  in  business,  49 
Administration :        of    corporation 

schools,   354-57;    of  social  busi- 
ness subjects,  412-14 
Administrative  unit,  high  school  of 

commerce,  446-47 
Adult    training,    504;     in    evening 

school,  523 
Advertising,  high-school  commercial 

course  in,  409 
Advertising  and  selling,  corporation 

training  in,  345-53 
Advertising  specialists,  educational 

needs  of,  86 
Age  factor.  Federal  Board,  563 
Agencies,  specialized,  253-77 
Agreements  for  co-operative  courses : 

Federal    Board    forms,    495-97; 

forms  for  retail  selling  in  Boston, 

493-95 
Aims,  evening-school  courses,  522 
Alexander  Hamilton  Institute,  73 
AUen,  L.  G.,  461 
"Alternate  half-day"  plan,  480 
"  Alternate- week  "  plan,  480,  481 
American     Economic     Association, 

proposal  of,  588 
American  educational  system,  579 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  106 
American  Historical  Association,  588 
American  Institute  of  Banking,  339 
Analysis  of  junior  commercial  oc- 
cupations, 1 70-88 
Anderson,  W.  L.,  527-28 
Appraisal:  Federal  Board  proposal, 

570-76;      National     Council    of 

Education  program,  597 


Appraisals:  business  college,  282-84; 

co-operative     business     courses, 

498-500;  correspondence  schools, 

321-22,  323-25 
Appreciation  value,  21 
Apprenticeship:       American,    267; 

corporation      training,      341-43; 

medieval  England,  255-65 
Association  of  Collegiate  Schools  of 

Business,  371-75;  proposals,  579- 

88;   status  of  social  studies,  578; 

report  of  Commission,  390-91 
Association,  National,  of  Accredited 

Commercial  Schools,  306-10 
Attendance:  in  day  schools,  452-53; 

in  evening  schools,  508-10 
Avery,  Charles  P.,  92-93 

Babcock,  Margaret  F.,  529-31 
Bachrach,  William,  469,  533 
Banking  course,  high  school,  420 
Bamhart,  E.  W.,  150-60 
Barringer,  L.  E.,  94-95 
Batchelder,  Miss  A.  L.,  56-58 
Bobbitt,  Franklin,  18-19,  208-10 
Bookkeeper,  analysis  of,  191-93 
Bookkeeping  course:    business  col- 
lege,    299-301;      N.E.A.,     third 
report,  559 
Boston  evening  schools,  513-20 
Poston  high  schools,  482-84 
"Boston  plan"  of  co-operation,  481 
Boston  postgraduate  courses,  527 
Boys  and  girls:  differences  in  work, 
123,    129,    161-62;     occupations 
(table),  121-22;    requirements  in 
high-school    commercial    course, 
424 
Boys  and  men,  positions  held,  58 
Bristol,  L.  M.,  229-32 
Broadening  courses,  532 
Bryant  and  Stratton,  273 


617 


6i8 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


Bulletin  of  High  Points,  481,  485 

Burdge,  Howard,  452,  509 

Bumham,  R.  Wesley,  444 

Business:  continuation,  470-73;  de- 
scription (diagram),  38-39;  gen- 
eral course  in  (N.E.A.,  third 
report),  559;  its  demands,  103-4; 
preparation  for,  431-32;  scope  of, 
104;  technological  consideration 
of,  67-68;  what  it  is,  32,  39;  what 
it  wants:  direct  expressions,  81- 
112,  indirect  expressions,  115-203 

Business  college:  appraisals,  282-84; 
beginnings,  United  States,  26^-75; 
control,  304-10;  deficiency,  84; 
development,  284-87;  enrolment, 
280-82;  investigations  of,  284-87, 
287-94;  merits,  310-11;  number 
of  schools  (Fig.  17),  280;  number 
of  students  (Fig.  18),  281;  role, 
311-12;  size,  295-97;  specialized 
function,  574;  tuition,  301-4; 
type  of  work,  297-301 

Business  education:  argument 
against,  82;  growth  of,  3-16 

Business  Education  in  Secondary 
Schools,  556 

Business    English    in    high-school 

commercial  course,  409 
Business  Journal,  82-83 
Business  man,  successful,  102 
Buxton,  George  P.,  463 

Capital  goods,  34 
Capital,  increase  in  (table),  69 
Carkin,  S.  B.,  489 
Cashier,  analysis  of,  194-96 

Cass  Technical  High  School, 
Detroit,  461-63 

Chicago  City  Club,  report  on  busi- 
ness college,  284-87 

Chicago  continuation  schools,  469- 
70 

Chicago  postgraduate  courses,  529- 
31 

Cincinnati  high  schools,  co-operation 
in,  491-92 

Cincinnati,  University  of,  co-opera- 
tive idea  of,  478-79 


Citizenship,  Committee  on  History 
and  Education  for,  588 

Citizenship,  training  for,  572 

City  Club,  Chicago  (see  Chicago 
City  Club) 

City  commercial  students,  11,  13 

City  system,  607-13 

City  supervisor,  533 

Clark,  Victor  S.,  268 

Clerk,  analysis  of,  196-97 

Cleveland  Survey  (Figs.  6-1 1), 
123-28 

College  courses,  questionnaire  on,  83 

College  education,  prejudice  against, 
84-86 

Collegiate  Schools  of  Business,  As- 
sociation of,  371-75,  578,  579-88 

Collegiate  schools  of  business,  276; 
beginnings,  364-70;  classes,  384- 
87;  curriculum,  379-83;  ideals, 
375-78;  later  development  (Figs. 
27-29A),  370-75;  length  of 
courses,  384-88;  private,  314-17; 
r61e,  389-91 

Collegiate  training  (Figs.  4, 5),  14-15 

Commercial  activity,  use  of  science 

in,  68 
Commercial  courses  (Tables  II,  V 

VII,  Fig.  3),  4,  7,  8,  9,  10,  ",  13, 
607;   postgraduate,  527-32 

Commercial    design    course,    high 

school,  420 
Commercial  education:    beginnings 

in    the    United    States,    266^67; 

compulsory,  460-61;  larger  vision 

of,  165-6;  professional  aspects  of, 

557;  purpose  of,  55^-57;  subsidy 

for,  459;  what  it  is,  103 
Commercial  Education  Service,  460 
Commercial     geography     in     high 

schools,  409 
Commercial    law   in   high  schools, 

409 
Commercial    organization    in    high 

schools,  409 
Commercial  schools,  private,  3-4,  6 
Commercial  Service,  Federal  Board, 

534 
Commercial  teacher  training,  534-37 


INDEX 


619 


Commercial  teachers,  standardiza- 
tion of  requirements  for,  535-36 

Commercial  work,  laboratory  for, 
498 

Commission,  Association  of  Col- 
legiate Schools  of  Business,  579, 
588 

Commission  on  Reorganization  of 
Secondary  Education,  580;  pro- 
posal, 588 

Committee  on'  History  and  Educa- 
tion for  Citizenship,  588 

Committee  of  Nine,  543-49 

Communism  in  want  gratification, 
37 

Community  civics  movement,  578 

Community  needs,  N.E.A.  report, 
561 

Competition,  41-42;  medieval,  260- 
62 

Compulsory  commercial  education, 
460-61 

Compulsory  education,  continuation 
school,  449-52 

Concentrated  course,  possibilities  of, 
531-32 

Concept  of  education,  evolution  of, 
222-24 

Continuation  schools,  276, 606;  com- 
pulsory education  in,  449-52; 
corporation,  333-34,  337-38,  338- 
39,  340-41;  definition,  449-52; 
development,  453-54;  examples, 
461-73;  legal  status,  449-50;  in 
Munich,  454;  need,  452-53; 
purpose,  451-52;  role,  473-75; 
Smith-Hughes  Law,  456-61;  unit 

•     basis  for,  468 

Continuation  work,  try-out  cycle  in, 
470 

Control:  manuals,  73;  of  produc- 
tion, 73-77 

Cooley,  Charles  H.,  224-29 

Cooley,  Edwin  G.,  454 

Co-operation:  provided  by  Smith- 
Hughes  Law,  456-57;  in  ofiice 
work,  491-92;  in  store  work, 
Federal  Board,  570 

Co-operative  business  courses: 
agreements,  493-97;    application 


to  commercial  work,  479-80; 
appraisal,  498-500;  Boston  high 
schools,  482-84;  Cincinnati,  491- 
92;  co-ordinator,  497;  courses  in 
retail  selling,  481-91;  essentials, 
482;  method  of  control,  478; 
necessities  for  success,  492-93; 
New  York  City,  484-89;  Roch- 
ester, 489-91;  three  plans,  480- 
81;  types,  480-92 

Co-operative  schools,  276;  corpora- 
tion, 334-35 

Co-operative  want  gratification,  36- 
38 

Co-ordinator,  497 

Corporation  schools,  276,  608;  ad- 
ministration, 354-57;  advertising 
and  selling,  345-53;  educational 
director  for,  356-57;  oflSce  work 
3'43-45;  organization  (Cl&art  HI), 
354-57;  retail  salesmanship,  353- 
54;  rdle,  357-61;  schools  for 
unskilled  labor,  354;  special  train- 
ing schools,  329-41 ;  teachers,  355 ; 
textbooks,  355;  trade  apprentice- 
ship, 341-43;  types,  329-54 

Correspondence  schools:  appraisals, 
321-22,  323-25;  beginnings,  318; 
control,  326;  corporation  training, 
340-41;  criticisms,  321-22,  323- 
25;  extent  of  influence,  319; 
modem,  description  of,  318-21; 
regulation  of,  326;  r61e,  325-26; 
varieties,  319-21 

Cost  accountants,  educational  needs 

of,  85 
Costs  of  vocational  education,  574 

Courses:  business  college,  297-301; 
co-operative  business,  478-500; 
Haaren  High  School,  443-45; 
High  School  of  Commerce,  Wash- 
ington, D.C.,  440;  postgraduate 
commercial,  527-32;  WilMnsHigh 
School,  Detroit,  441;  Y.M.C.A., 
316-17 

Craftsman,  256-65 

Creative  experience  in  modem  in- 
dustry, 232-35 

Criticism:  correspondence  schools, 
321-22,  323-25;  high  school  of 
commerce,  445-47;  Federal  Board 
proposal,  570-76 


620 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS' 


Cultural  course,  6oi 
Cultural  education,  473 
Cultural  high  school,  547 
Culture,  education  for  democracy, 
224-29 

Cummings,  Dr.  John,  508 

Curriculum:  business  college,  297- 
301;  collegiate  schools,  379-83; 
co-operative  course,  483;  evening 
high  schools,  506;  four-year  com- 
mercial course  proposed,  543; 
reform  of,  541;  Y.M.C.A.,  316-17 

Curriculum-making:  evaluating 

studies,  19-21;  imitation  in, 
18-26;  interests  theory  of,  22-24; 
mental  discipline  in,  24;  organiza- 
tion for,  25-26 

Daines,  H.  C,  316-17 

Dartmouth  College,  first  commerce 
work,  370 

Day  school,  business  college,  297-98 

Demands:  of  business  world,  82-83; 
of  modem  business,  103-4 

Democracy:  functions  of  education 
in,  208-47;  primary  culture  for, 
224-29;  vocational  aspects  of 
education  and,  238-47 

Department  store:  chart  of  organi- 
zation, 74;  educational  needs, 
92-93 

Des  Moines  Survey,  1 16-17 

Detroit:  continuation  school  for 
girls,  463-66;  Wilkins  High  School 
of  Commerce,  441 

Development  of  industry  in  America, 
267-68 

Dewey,  John,  19-20,  21-22,  23-24, 
210-11,  218-22,  238-47 

Differences  in  occupations :  boys  and 
girls,  564;  Cleveland  Survey, 
123-28;  New  York  Survey,  129- 
36;  private  survey,  161-62 

Director,  educational,  for  corpora- 
tion school,  356-57 

Donham,  Dean  Wallace,  387-88 

Dooley,  C.  R.,  93 

Dorchester  High  School,  527 

Douglas,  Paul  H.,  321-22,  454 

Drop-outs,  591-92,  612-13 


Early  industry,  65 

Economic  organization,  36-38,  271 

Economic  system,  36 

Economics  in  high-school  com- 
mercial course,  409 

Education:  creative  experience,  232- 
35;  cultural,  473;  culture  for 
democracy,  224-29;  democratic 
concept,  238-47;  evolution  and 
concept,  222-24;  national  ideal, 
229-32;  necessity,  218-22;  objec- 
tives, 29-250;  socialism  in,  212; 
social  control  and,  213;  voca- 
tional, public,  and  private  aspects, 
235-38 

Education,  business:  earlier  forms, 
253-77]  medieval,  255-65;  primi- 
tive, 253-55;  seventeenth-cen- 
tury, 265-67;  United  States, 
267-77 

Education  for  exporters,  subjects 
in,  90-91 

Educational  director  for  corporation 
school,  356-57 

Educational  guidance,  591 

Educational  ideal,  labor's,  109 

Educational  levels,  210 

Educational  needs:  advertising 
specialists,  86;  cost  accountants, 
85;  department  store,  92-93; 
experts  on  transportation,  88; 
exporter,  89-91;  office  assistants, 
84;  salesmen,  87 

Educational  system,  America,  579 

Efficiency,  42;  occupational,  106 

Eight-four  plan,  579-88 

Eighth  year:  Federal  Board  pro- 
posal, 565;  National  Council  of» 
Education  plan,  590;  N.E.A. 
third  report,  556;  program  of 
collegiate  schools,  583,  585-86 

Electives,  N.E.A.  proposals,  551, 
555 

Elementary  curriculum,  580,  589 

Eleventh  year:  Federal  Board  pro- 
posal, 568;  N.E.A.,  third  report. 
559-60 

Emerson,  Mabel  Irene,  222-24 

Employment  and  co-operation,  485 

Engineering,  use  of  science  in,  67-68 


INDEX 


621 


Enrolment:  business  college,  6, 
280-82;  private  high  schools,  6; 
public  high  schools,  6 

Evaluation:  of  school  subjects,  96- 
99;  of  studies,  19-20 

Evening  school,  276;  business  col- 
lege, 297-98 

Evening  school  courses:  aims,  522; 
attendance,  508-10;  diplomas, 
516-17:  enrolment  (Table 
XXXV),  505;  examples,  510-21; 
growth,  503-4;  history,  502-3; 
organization  of  evening  work, 
521-24;  role,  524;  scope  of  work, 
506-7;  sessions,  511-12,  514; 
subjects,  512,  518,  521;  voca- 
tional work,  524 

Evolution  and  concept  of  education, 
222-24 

Extensions,  high-school  commercial 
course,  502-24 

Experience,  commercial  teachers, 
535 

Experts  on  transportation,  educa- 
tional needs  of,  88 

Exploitation  in  education,  N.E.A. 
report,  561 

Exporter,  educational  needs  of,  89- 
91 

Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Educa- 
tion: Commercial  Service,  534; 
criticisms  of  proposals,  570-76; 
evening  school,  522;  job  analysis, 
junior,  170-88;  proposals,  565-69; 
relation  to  continuation  school, 
456-61;  sex  differences,  junior, 
163-65;  survey  of  junior  com- 
mercial occupations,  120-23,  143- 
48,  163-65;  survey  of  senior 
commercial  occupations,  150-60; 
unit  plan,  562 

Financial  corporation,  employment 
demands  of,  139 

Financing  an  education,  499 

First  proposal,  N.E.A.,  547-48 

Fish,  Louis,  J.,  482,  493 

Fitchburg,  Mass.,  co-operative 
school,  480 

Fitzpatrick,  Edward  A.,  504 

Flexner,  Abraham,  24 


Flower,     Lucy,     Technical     High 

School,  529-31 
Foreign  trade:    beginnings  in  Eng- 
land, 265;    and  shipping  course. 
Federal  Board,  568-69 
Foundation  courses,  474 
Freeland,  George  E.,  538 
Functional  organization,  77 
Functional  view  in   social  studies, 

601 
Functions,  public  education,  208-47 
Fundamentals,  training  in,  532 

Galloway,  Lee,  318-21 

Garbutt,  I.  R.,  491 

General  business  course,  Federal 
Board,  568-69 

General  courses,  evening  school,  524 

General  subjects,  N.E.A. ,  first  pro- 
posal, 546-47 

General  training,  499-500 

German  continuation  school,  454 

Girls'  continuation  work,  463-66 

Girls  and  women,  positions  held  by, 
60 

Glass,  James  M.,  589,  613 

Gompers,  Samuel,  106,  217 

Government  interest  in  commercial 
work,  459 

Great  Britain  Special  Report  on 
Educational  Subjects,  82,  102 

Gruenberg,  Benjamin  C.,  235-38 

Guilds,  255-65 

Haaren  High  School,  443-45;  co- 
operative courses  in,  484-89 

Haney,  L.  H.,  272 

Harvard  University  Graduate  School 
of  Business,  386 

Hayes,  Edward  C.,  213-15 

Hierarchy  of  values,  20 

High  school  of  commerce,  276: 
beginnings,  430;  evaluation,  445- 
47;  examples,  440-45;  limita- 
tions, 446;  non-technical  subjects, 
434-35;  purposes,  430;  social- 
business  subjects,  435-39;  tech- 
nical subjects,  433-34 


622 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


High-school  commercial  course: 
conclusions  concerning,  576; 
economics  in,  409;  four-year 
course,  English,  402-3;  four-year 
course,  non-technical  subjects, 
403-6;  general  conclusions,  426- 
28;  importance,  394;  length  of 
courses,  394-95;  length  of  short 
course,  395-96;  methods  of  teach- 
ing, 424-25 ;  policies  and  methods, 
423-24;  reform  in,  545;  salesman- 
ship in,  489;  short  course,  non- 
technical subjects,  399-402; 
social-business  subjects,  407-23; 
technical  subjects,  396-99;  tests, 
425;  textbooks,  425-26;  tradi- 
tional nature,  406-7 

High  school,  commercial,  reform  of 
curriculum  of,  541 

High-school  students,  comparison  of 
public  (table),  5 

High  schools,  number  of,  in  com- 
mercial work,  4 

Higher  education,  prejudice  against, 
84-86 

History  of  commerce  in  high-school 
commercial  course,  409 

History  in  high-school  curriculum, 
578 

Hotchkiss,  Willard  E.,  377 

Huxley,  E.  H.,  89 

Illinois  Manufacturers'  Association, 

83 
Illinois  University  Conference,  83 
Imitation     in     curriculum-making, 

18-19 
Immediate  vocations,  training  for, 

576,  591 
Individual  enterprise,  41-50 
Industrial    history    in    high-school 

commercial  course,  409 
Industrial  Revolution,  65-66 
Industry:       development     of,     in 
America,  267-68;   its  wants  from 
schools,  93-94;  as  training  school, 
574-75 
Initiative,  94 

Institutes  of  technology,  363 
Institutions:  human,  601;   teacher- 
training,  536 


Insurance    company,    employment 

demands  of,  136-38 
Intensive  courses,  postgraduate,  528, 

529-31 
Interests  theory,  22-24 
Intermediate  program,  598 
Interpretation  of  job,  473 

James,  Edmund  J.,  272-73,  282-283 

Job  analysis:  bookkeeper,  191-93; 
cashier,  194-96;  clerk,  196-97; 
commercial  occupations,  170-88; 
purpose,  example,  166-70;  retail 
selling,  197-200, 200-203 ;  stenogra- 
pher, 189-91 

Job,  interpretation  of,  473 

Jobbers,  45 

Jones,  Arthur  J.,  502 

Jones,  Edward  D.,  375 

Journal  of  Political  Economy ^  379 

Junior  commercial  occupations: 
analysis,  170-88;  Junior  high 
school  course.  Federal  Board, 
565-66;  Junior  high  school  move- 
ment, 580-81 

Junior  high  school  program :  Nation- 
al Council  of  Education,  594; 
in  social  studies,  582-89 

Kirchensteiner,  Dr.  George,  454 
Kreuzpointner,  Dr.  Paul,  104-6 
Kruse,  Paul  J.,  523-24 

Labor  and  education:  England, 
108-11;  United  States,  107 

Labor  power,  34 

Laboratory  for  commercial  work,  498 

Large-scale  industry,  implications 
for  education  in,  77-78 

Large-scale  production,  70-78 

Legal  status,  continuation  school, 
449-50 

Length  of  courses :  collegiate  schools, 
384-88;  high-school  commercial 
course,  394-96;  social-business 
subjects  in  high  school  of  com- 
merce, 436-37;  social-business 
subjects  in  high-school  com- 
mercial course,  410-12;  technical 
subjects  in  high  school  of  com- 
merce, 433-34 


INDEX 


623 


Liberal  commercial  course,  600-601 

Liberal  education,  11 1 

Limitations:  of  high  school  of  com- 
merce, 446;  of  teaching  force  and 
equipment,  570 

Line  and  staff  organization  (chart), 
73 

Lomax,  Paul  S.,  466 

Lyon,  L.  S.:  corporation  school, 
328-61;  national  survey,  142-43, 
161-62;  specialization,  35-38, 
43-46,  47 

Machine  industry,  65-70;  as  method 

of  production,  53 
McKLinsey,  J.  O.,  75 
Mactavish,  J.  M.,  108 
Mail     order     house,     employment 

demands  of,  139-40 
Management,  scientific,  73-77 
Managerial  training,  42,  49-50,  446 
Manufacturing     plant     (chart     of 

organization),  75 
Marot,  Helen,  232-35 
Marshall,  L.  C,  36-38,  43-46,  47, 

69,  382,  385,  572 
Marshall,  Wright,  and  Field,  69 
Mathematics,  value  of,  22 
Meat-packing,  specialization  in,  55 
Medieval  apprenticeship,  255-65 
Men  and  boys,  positions  held  by,  58 
Mental  discipline,  24 
Mercantilist:  qualifications  for,  265; 

view  of  education,  265-67 
Methods  of  teaching,  539 
Michigan  Science  Association,  384 
Milwaukee  Survey,  120-22 
Minneapolis  Survey,  1 15-16 
Minneapolis  Vocational   Education 

Survey,  197-200 
Modern  industry,   creative   experi- 
ence in,  232-35 
Monroe,  Paul,  217-18 
Mortality,  school,  452-53 
Moser,  Paul,  3 10- 11 
Mun,  Thomas,  265-67 
Munich  continuation  schools,  454 


National  Association  of  Accredited 
Commercial  Schools,  306-10 

National  Association  of  Corporation 
Schools,  329-356:  direct  expres- 
sions, 93, 94, 95, 104;  job  analysis, 
166-70 

National  Association  of  Corporation 
Training  {see  National  Association 
of  Corporation  Schools) 

National  Council  of  Education, 
appraisal,  597;  drop-outs,  591-92; 
introductory  statement,  589; 
program,  589-97;  retardates,  592; 
supernormal,  593 

National  Education  Association: 
Commission  of  Reorganization  of 
Secondary  Education,  580;  Com- 
mittee of  Nine,  543-49;  report  of 
1919*  556-62;  second  proposal, 
549-55*  subcommittee  on  social 
studies,  578 

National  Personnel  Association  {see 
National  Association  of  Corpora- 
tion Schools) 

Natural  resources  as  want-gratifying 
goods,  33 

Necessity  of  education,  218-47 

Needs:  in  commercial  teacher- 
training,  537-38;  in  education, 
109-11 

New  Jersey  continuation  work,  466- 
69 

New  York  City:  co-operative 
courses,  484-89;  questionnaire, 
loi;  report  on  business  college, 
287-94;  Survey,  129-36 

New  York  University,  first  com- 
merce work  in,  370 

Nichols,  F.  G.,  116,  120,  143-48, 
148-50,  163-65,  170-88,  562 

Night  school  {see  Evening  school) 

Ninth  year:  Federal  Board  pro- 
posal, 566;  National  Council  of 
Education  plan,  591;  National 
Education  Association,  third  re- 
port, 558;  program  of  collegiate 
schools,  583,  586-87 

Non-attendance  in  evening  schools, 
508-10 

Non-vocational  studies,  524 

Normal  schools,  536 


624 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


Objectives  of  business  education,  26. 

6c8 
Objectives  of  public  education :  Bob- 

bitt,  208;  Dewey,  210;  Gompers, 

217;  Hayes,    213;    Monroe,  217; 

Thomdike,  216;   Ward,  212 
Occupational  efl&ciency,  106 

Occupations : 

Analysis  of  certain  work:  book- 
keeper, 191-93;  cashier,  194- 
96;  clerk,  196-97;  retail  selling, 
197-200,  200-203;  stenogra- 
pher, 189-91 

Classification  of  general:  dif- 
ferent demands  for  sexes,  161- 
62;  Federal  Board,  163-65; 
ofl5ce  positions,  151 

Job  analysis  by:  Federal  Board, 
junior  survey,  170-88;  Na- 
tional Association  of  Corpora- 
tion Schools,  166-70 

Kinds  of  business:  financial  cor- 
porations, 139;  insurance,  136- 
38;   mail-order  houses,  139-40 

Study  of:  Federal  Board,  143-48, 
150-60;  Fig.  10,  127;  Fig.  II, 
128;  Figs.  13  and  14,  145; 
National  surveys,  141;  New 
York,  129-36;  private,  142-43; 
Table  X,  147;  United  States 
Census,  141 
Office-appliance     course     in     high 

school,  420 
Office  assistants'  educational  needs. 

Office  work :  corporation  training  in, 
343-45;  specialization  in,  58-61; 
training  in  postgraduate  course, 
530-31 

Office- work  co-operation,  491-92 

Organization  of:  corporation  schools, 
354-57;  curriculum,  25-26;  even- 
ing work,  521-24 

Organization  charts,  74-75 

Organization:  functional,  77;  plan 
of,  607-13;  for  production,  73-77 

Orr,  William,  315-16 

Osgood,  Ellen  L.,  497 

Palmer,  Frank  H.,  317-18 
Part-time  schools  {see  Continuation 
schools) 


Penmanship,  early  teaching  of,  270- 
71 

Performance,  as  training  for  busi- 
ness, 63 

Person,  H.  S.,  73-??,  379,  384 

Pinmaking,  specialization  in,  53-54 

Pittsburgh  questionnaire,  101-2 

Poetry,  value  of,  21 

Policies  and  methods  of  high-school 
commercial  course,  423-24 

Positions,  commercial:  analysis  of, 
563;  men  and  boys,  58;  women 
and  girls,  60 

Postgraduate  commercial  courses, 
527-32 

Postgraduate  course,  276;  examples, 
527-31;  possibilities  in  concen- 
tration, 531-32;  subjects,  528, 
529-31 

Prejudice  against  higher  education, 
84-86 

Preparation  for  business  as  purpose 
of  high  school  of  commerce,  431- 
32 

Primitive  society,  education  in,  253- 
55 

Prince,  Mrs.  Lucinda  W.,  481 

Private  collegiate  schools,  314-17 

Private  commercial  schools,  3-4,  6 

Process  in  living,  aims  in,  601 

Processes  of  business,  facilitating,  269 

Production:  large-scale,  70-78; 
machine  industry  as  method  of, 
53;  specialization  as  a  method,  43 

Products,  teaching  to  sell,  498-500 

Professional  aspects  of  commercial 
education,  557 

Program:  with  existing  studies,  598; 
of  junior  high  school  social  studies, 
582-87;  of  National  Council  of 
Education,  589-97 

Proposal  of  the  Association  of  Col- 
legiate Schools  of  Business,  579-88 

Proposals:  Federal  Board,  562-76; 
Federal  Board  junior  high  school 
course,  565-66;  review  of,  543- 
602 

Public  education:  function  of,  95- 
100;    limitations  of,  94-951   Pur- 


INDEX 


625 


poses  of,  208;  view  for  vocational 
education,  235-38 
Public  evening  schools,  505 
Public  school  instruction,  95-100 
Purpose  of   commercial   education, 

556-57 
Purpose  of  education,  25,  26 
Purposes   of   high   school   of   com- 
merce, 430 

Qualifications  for  mercantilist,  265 
Questionnaire  on  college  courses,  83 

Rearrangement  of  school  system,  580 

Reform  in  high-school  commercial 
curriculum,  541 

Regulation  of  correspondence  school, 
326 

Relative  value  of  school  subjects, 
96-99 

Reorganization  of  secondary  educa- 
tion, commission  on,  580 

Repetition  of  tasks,  43 

Report  of  1919,  556-59 

Report  of  Subcommittee  on  Social 
Studies  Proposal,  588 

Reporting  course.  Federal  Board, 
568-69 

Requirements  for  commercial  teach- 
ers, standardization  of,  535-36 

Requirements  and  electives  in  social- 
business  subjects  in  high  school  of 
commerce,  435 

Requirements  in  teaching,  535 

Retail  salesmanship,  corporation 
training  part  of,  353-54 

Retail  selling:  analysis  of,  197-200, 
200-203;  training  teachers  of,  536 

Retail  selling  courses,  481-92;  Fed- 
eral Board,^  568-69;  Third  Na- 
tional Association  report,  560 

Retardates,  592 

Richmond  (Second)  Survey  for 
Vocational  Education,  189-97, 
200-203 

Rochester:  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
1 1 7-20;  co-operative  schools,  489- 
91;  Survey,  117-20 

R61e:  of  collegiate  school  of  busi- 
ness,   389-91;     of    continuation 


school,  473-75;  of  corporation 
school,  357-61;  of  correspondence 
school,  325-26;  of  evening  school, 
524 
Rural  commercial  students  (table), 
13 

St.  Louis  evening  schools,  511-13 
Salesmen,  educational  needs  of,  87 
Salesmanship   in   high-school   com- 
mercial course,  489 
Saturday  work,  480,  481 
Schneider,  Herman  L.,  478 

School  mortality,  452-53,  463-64; 
prevention  of,  573 

School  subjects,  relative  value  of, 

96-99 
School  system,  rearrangement  of,  580 

Schools:  college,  14,  15;  collegiate, 
of  business,  363-91;  continuation, 
449-75;  ^  co-operative,  478-500; 
corporation,  328-61;  correspond- 
ence, 314,  317,  326;  high  school  of 
commerce,  430-47;  high  school 
(Tables  II,  III,  IV,  V,  Figs,  i,  2), 
4>  5>  7, 8;  part-time  (see  Continua- 
tion); private  collegiate,  314-17; 
private  commercial  (Table  I, 
Fig.  i),  3-4,  6;  Y.M.C.A.,  314-17 

Science:  application  to  business, 
66-70;  teaching  for  business, 
67-68;  value  as  study,  21 

Scientific  management,  73-77 

Scope  of  business,  104 

Scott,  William  A.,  376 

Second  proposal,  National  Educa- 
tion Association,  549-50 
Secondary  education: 
Aims  of:    Bobbitt,  208;    Dewey, 
210;     Gompers,    217;     Hayes, 
213;      Monroe,     217;      Thorn- 
dik«,  216;  Ward,  212 
Favorable  to,  84-86 

Secondary  Education,  Commission 
on  Reorganization  of,  580 

Secondary  schools,  4,  5,  7,  8;  com- 
merce, 430-47;  commercial  course, 
393-428 

Secretarial  course.  Federal  Board, 
568-69 


626 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


Secretarial  training,  531 

Self-support  as  purpose  of  high 
school  of  commerce,  431 

Senior  Commercial  Occupational 
Survey,  150-61 

Senior  high  school  course.  Federal 
Board,  566-69 

Senior  high  school,  program  of  col- 
legiate schools,  587 

Services,  specialization  in,  47 

Seventh  grade:  National  Council  of 
Educational  plan,  590;  program 
of  collegiate  schools,  582,  583, 
584 

Seventh  year:  Federal  Board  pro- 
posal, 565;  third  National  Educa- 
tion Association  report,  557 

Sex  differences  in  occupations,  564: 
Cleveland,  123-28;  New  York, 
129-36;  private  survey,  161-62 

Shaw,  A.  W.,  363-64 
Shelley,  Mary  B.,  139 
Shorthand,  beginnings  of,  275 
Simons,  A.  M.,  323-25 
Six-three-three  plan,  580-81 
Six-six  plan,  580-81 
Smith,  Adam,  53-54 
Smith-Hughes    Act,    456-61;     ap- 
propriations,    459;       provisions, 
457-58 
Smith,  J.  Russell,  33-34 
Smith  and  Jewett,  67 
Snedden,  Dr.,  209-10 
Social    and    physical    environment 

program,  399-400 
Social  business  subjects: 
Conclusions  for  high-school  course, 

421-23 
In  high-school  commercial-  course, 

407-20 
In    high    school    of    commerce: 
correlation  of  courses,  438-39; 
length  of  courses,  436-37;    re- 
quirements and  electives,  435 
Requirements  and  electives:   cor- 
relation, 417-20;  direction,  412- 
14;    length  of  courses,  410-12; 
teachers  of,  414-16 
Social  aim  in  education,  212 


Social  control  and  education,  213 
Social     relationships,    training    in, 

572 
Social  resources,  33-35 
Social-science    studies,    in    training 

teachers,  537 
Social  studies:  functional  view,  601; 

program  for  junior  high  school, 

582-89;    reorganization,   390-91; 

in  secondary  schools,  578-79 
Solution  of  high-school  course,  576 
Specialization: 

In  development  of  educational 
agencies,  253-77 

Of  business  units,  41-50;  dia- 
grams, 45,  46,  47;  example, 
43-46;  nature,  43 

Within    business    units,     53-63; 

manufacturing,    53-56 ;     meat 

packing,  55;  office  work,  56-62; 

pinmaking,  53;  shoemaking,  54 

Specialized  courses,  Federal  Board, 

567 
Specialized  society,   education   for. 

601 
Specialized     techniques,     need     to 

teach,  62-63 
Spencer,  Herbert,  208 
Standardization  of  requirements  for 

commercial  teachers,  535-36 
State  supervision,  533-34 
State  vocational  education,  456-61 

Statement  of  purpose.  National 
Education  Association  Proposal, 
543-44 

Stenographic  course:  Federal  Board, 
568-69;  third  National  Educa- 
tion Association  report,  559 

Stenography,  analysis  of,  189-91 

Stenography,  courses  in:  business 
college,  299-301;  National  Edu- 
cation Association  course,  550, 
553-54 

Stevens,  Bertha  M.,  58-61;  surveys, 
123-28,  129-36,  136-38,  287-94, 
305-6 

Store  practice  (see  Retail  selling 
courses) 

Store  service  course,  third  National 
Education  Association  report,  560 


INDEX 


627 


Store  work,  Federal  Board,  570 

Students:  in  commercial  courses  in 
three  kinds  of  schools  (table),  5; 
number,  private  commercial 
(table),  3;  percentage  in  com- 
mercial courses  of  private  high 
schools  (table),  6;  percentage  of 
commercial  in  rural,  village,  and 
city  communities  (Table  XIII), 
395;  percentage  in  commercial 
courses  of  certain  high  schools 
(table),  II 

Studies  in  technical  education,  538 

Subcommittee  of  National  Edu- 
cation Association  on  Social 
Studies,  578 

Subcommittee  on  Social  Studies 
Proposal,  Report  of,  588 

Subsidy  for  commercial  education, 
459 

Success,  meaning  of,  42 

Supervision,  533-34;  city,  533; 
state,  533-34 

Supplementary  agencies:  city  super- 
visor, 533;  Federal  Board,  534; 
state  supervisor,  533;  teacher 
trainmg,  533-37 

Supply  of  labor  through  education, 
107 

Survey  of  business,  need  for,  600 

Surveys,  city:  Cleveland,  123-28; 
Des  Moines,  1 16-17;  Milwaukee, 
120-22;  Minneapolis,  115^16, 
197-200;  New  York,  129-36; 
Richmond,  189-97,  200-203; 
Rochester,  117-20 

Surveys,  national:  Federal  Board 
on,  150-60,  143-48;  private,  142- 
43;  United  States  Census,  141 

Teacher- training,  534-37;  forms 
needed,  537-38;  in  universities, 
53^37 
Teachers:  corporation  schools,  355; 
co-operative,  492;  in  girls'  con- 
tinuation work,  464 
Teaching    commercial    methods    in 

high  school,  424-25 
Teaching,  requirements  in,  535 
Technical  courses,  recognition  of,  549 
Technical  education,  beginnings  of, 
in  America,  266-77 


Technical  subjects:  high-school  com- 
mercial course,  396-99;  length  of 
course,  high  school  of  commerce, 
433-34 

Technical  training:  collegiate,  363; 
corporation  school,  360;  given  in 
business  college,  312 

Technical  work,  place  of,  in  cur- 
riculum, 600 

Technique,  training  in,  62-63 

Technological  consideration  of  busi- 
ness, 67-68 

Technology,  institutes  of,  363 

Telegraphy,  courses  in,  business 
coUege,  299-301 

Tenth  year:  Federal  Board  pro- 
posal, 566-67;  third  National  Edu- 
cation Association  report,  558 

Tests,  educational,  in  high-school 
commercial  course,  425 

Textbooks:  corporation  schools, 
355 ;  for  social-business  subjects  in 
high  school,  425-26 

Textiles,  course  in,  485-89 

Thayer,  Gertrude  B.,  139 

Third  National  Education  Associa- 
tion proposal:  criticism,  561; 
seventh  year,  557;  eighth  year, 
557;  ninth  year,  558;  tenth  year, 
558;  eleventh  year,  559-6o; 
twelfth  year,  559-60 

Thompson,  F.  V.,  loi 

Thorndike,  Edward  L,,  216 

Three  proposals,  comparative  state- 
ment, 588 

Todd,  Arthur  James,  253-55 

Tradition  in  high-school  commercial 
course,  406-7 

Training  for  business,  performance 
as,  63 

Training,  commercial  teachers,  534- 
37;  social-science  studies  in,  537 

Training  in  fundamentals,  post- 
graduate, 532 

Training  in  job  performance,  473 

Training  in  technique,  524;  post- 
graduate, 531 

Trenton,  New  Jersey,  continuation 
school,  466-69 


628 


EDUCATION  FOR  BUSINESS 


Try-out  courses,  National  Educa- 
tional Association  proposal,  557 

Try-out  cycle  in  continuation  work, 
470 

Twelfth  year:  Federal  Board  pro- 
posal, 569;  third  National  Educa- 
tion Association  report,  559-60 

Typewriter,  introduction,  275 

Ultra-modern  course,  1903  proposal, 

547 
Unit  basis  for  continuation  school, 

468 
Unit    course:     criticism    of,    573; 

National   Education    Association 

proposal,  557 

Unit  plan:  description  of  Federal 
Board,  562-64;  evening  work,  522 

United  States  Bureau  of  Education: 
collegiate  schools,  370;  courses  in 
business  colleges,  297-301;  even- 
ing schools,  504;  on  growth  of 
business  education  (Tables  I,  II, 
III,  IV,  V,  VI,  VII),  3,  4,  5,  6,  7, 
II,  13;  number  of  private  com- 
mercial schools,  280;  number  of 
private  commercial  students,  281- 
82;  size  of  business  colleges,  295- 
97;  tuition  rates,  301-4;  Y.M.C.A., 
315-16 

United  States  Bureau  of  Labor: 
Bulletin  199 — Minneapolis  Voca- 
tional Education  Survey,  1 15-16, 
197-200 

United  States  Census,  54-55;  survey 
of  employment,  141 

Universities,  teacher-training  in, 
536-37 

University:  business  education,  276* 
California,  first  commerce  work, 
369;  Chicago,  first  commerce 
work,  370;  present  commerce 
course,  385-86;  Cincinnati,  co- 
operative idea,  478-79;  Michigan, 
first  commerce  work,  370;  Min- 
nesota, present  commerce  course, 
384;  Missouri,  first  commerce 
work,  370;  Pennsylvania,  gradu- 
ate school,  386;  Pittsburgh,  pres- 
ent commerce  work,  384;  South 
Dakota,  fiirst  commerce  work,  370; 


Wisconsin,  first  commerce  work, 
370,  present  commerce  course,  384 
UtiUtarian  aims,  105-6 

Values  of  studies,  19-20 

Vanderlip,  F.  A.,  103 

Van  Hise,  C.  R.,  70-73 

Village  commercial  students'  table,  13 

Vocational  courses,  status,  575 

Vocational  education:  costs  of,  574; 
limitations,  94-95;  public  and 
private  aspects,  235-38;  related 
to  democratic  concept,  238-47; 
Smith-Hughes  Law,  456-61;  state, 
456-61;  summary,  509 

Vocational  training:  evening  school, 
524;  modem  conception,  562 

Vocations,  study  of,  x  15-203 

Wage-earning  girl  related  to  con- 
tinuation school,  464-65 
Wages,  medieval,  260 
Want  gratification,  communismin,  37 
Want-gratifying  goods,  7,3,  34,  35 
Wants,  32-33;  guide  through  educa- 
tion, 216 

Wants  of  business:  direct  expres- 
sion, 81-112;  indirect  expression, 
115,  203 

Ward,  Lester  F.,  212-13 

Washington,  D.C.:  evening  school, 
520-21;  high  school  of  commerce 
course,  440 

Wharton,  G.  W.,  445 

Wharton  School  of  Commerce:  first 
curriculum,  364-69;  graduate 
school,  386;  present  commerce 
course,  385 

Wilkins  High  School,  441 

Wilson,  L.  A.,  305 

Wisconsin  evening  school,  506-7 

Women  and  girls,  positions  held  by, 
60 

Workers'  Educational  Association, 
108 

Y.M.C.A.  education,  314-17;  busi- 
ness education,  316-17;  origin, 
315-16 


PRINTEO  IN  THE  U.S.A 


YC  44913 


